Steel in the Spine

(low guitar, rehab-room air, one slow clap)
Doctor said, "Take it slow." Slow sounded like finished.
Steel in the spine — I'm not finished yet.

Rubber band around my knees, an old boot beside the chair,
everybody talking soft like I might disappear.
Locker tag still holds my name, dust still on the lace —
I hate these little steps, but I take them anyway.
Friends keep saying, "Give it time" — time can sound like never
when you're counting every inch back to yourself.
Three stairs every morning, no hand upon the rail;
I made it to the landing, then I cried behind the wheel.
Kids out on the driveway trying not to watch me climb —
someday they will know these stairs were mountains at the time.
Not because I'm broken, not because I'm done —
because one little victory can weigh a thousand tons.

(tom pressure climbs)
Then my daughter drew me standing tall,
lightning running down my back,
taped it to the kitchen wall
like a promise I could have.

(stadium release, gang answers)
I got steel in the spine, (steel!)
fire in the chest. (fire!)
Count me out, leave my boots at the door —
I stood back up, I'm not finished yet.

(gang vocals, claps)
I still get up! (get up)
I still get up! (get up)
Steel in the spine —
I'm not finished yet.

Monday in the parking lot, I left the cane in the car,
walked in on my own two feet, past every stare.
The therapist just nodded — didn't clap and didn't fuss —
wrote one word on her clipboard - I swear it said "tough."
I'm not the before-photo taped up on the wall,
I am the shaky second try that would not let me fall.
If the old me had to leave, let him leave with all that pain —
the new me learned to stand a different way.

(band pulls back one bar, then fires)
She drew the lightning yellow, drew the shoulders wide,
drew a man a little taller than the man who wants to hide.
Every small step up those stairs is thunder on that page —

(bigger, high harmony)
I got steel in the spine, (steel!)
fire in the chest. (fire!)
Count me out, leave my boots at the door —
I stood back up, I'm not finished yet.

(drums cut — one voice, one clap)
Say it for the shaky steps,
say it for the second try, (one more)
say it for the quiet ones
who stood when no one saw them rise.

(stripped — voice and low guitar)
There's a dent in the doorframe where I fell that first bad night,
a groove worn in the handrail from my grip learning to fight.
I keep them like a diary — every mark a day I stayed.
The house remembers all of it,
and the house is not afraid.

(one soaring lead, floor toms building, claps return)
(gang chant under the solo:)
Steel! (steel!) Spine! (spine!)
I still get up! (get up!)

(full band, octave gang vocals, brighter guitars)
I got steel in the spine, (steel!)
fire in the chest. (fire!)
Count me out, leave my boots at the door —
I stood back up — not finished yet. (not yet)

(crowd carries it)
I still get up! (get up)
I still get up! (get up)
Steel in the spine —
I still get up. (still get up)

(band out, one clap keeps time)
Old boot by the chair, new light in my eyes,
laces finally tied — steel in the spine.
Still not finished.