Nest Above the Iron River — A Song Inspired by Chicago bald eaglets hatch after a century

[Verse 1]
Smoke on the river, teeth in the rail
Old mills sleeping with rust in their nails
We learned not to look up, learned not to ask
What kind of wing could come back from ash

[Pre-Chorus]
Keep your shadow low
Let the wild thing breathe
There is thunder in the cottonwood
There are knives inside the leaves

[Chorus]
There’s a nest above the iron river
Two small flames in a city of gray
Don’t you clap too loud, don?t crowd the mirror
Let the broken sky remember its name
Nest above the iron river
Life came back with a hooked little cry
If the hard ground learns to deliver
Maybe stone can learn to fly

[Verse 2]
We paved over prayers, poured blacktop on bones
Made every marsh into somebody’s road
But under the sirens and salt-bitten rain
Something kept drawing a circle again

[Pre-Chorus]
Keep your hunger still
Let the tall grass hide
Not every miracle wants cameras
Not every wound wants light

[Chorus]
There’s a nest above the iron river
Two small flames in a city of gray
Don’t you clap too loud, don?t crowd the mirror
Let the broken sky remember its name
Nest above the iron river
Life came back with a hooked little cry
If the hard ground learns to deliver
Maybe stone can learn to fly

[Bridge]
No crown, no flag, no sermon in the sun
Just a mother with murder in her beautiful blood
Just a father carving circles over water and wire
Just a city holding still beneath a cradle of fire

[Breakdown]
Hold still
Hold still
Let the river breathe
Hold still
Hold still
Let the talons dream

[Final Chorus]
There’s a nest above the iron river
Two small flames in a city of gray
Don’t you clap too loud, don?t crowd the mirror
Let the broken sky remember its name
Nest above the iron river
Life came back with a hooked little cry
If the hard ground learns to deliver
Maybe stone can learn to fly

[Outro]
Smoke on the river
Gold in the eye
Stone can learn to fly