Flashlight beam on Beacon Hill
Cobblestones hold winter chill
Three AM and shadows stretch
Boots fall where the founders stepped
Brick by brick I walk the line
Half remembered hymns keep time
Autumn wind through Beacon trees
Sings the alto parts I sing
Sunday mornings wooden pews
Breath held long as organ blues
Mrs Calloway steady hand
Taught us how to understand
Brick by brick I walk the line
Half remembered hymns keep time
Autumn wind through Beacon trees
Sings the alto parts I sing
Log the gate at four fifteen
Check the locks on every screen
Radio crackles low and dead
Footsteps are the only thread
Brick by brick I walk the line
Half remembered hymns keep time
Autumn wind through Beacon trees
Sings the alto parts I sing
Breath clouds rise in orange glare
Bricks hold warmth from afternoon air
Fingers numb on iron rail
History beneath the veil
No congregation left to hear
Just squirrels and the disappearing year
But I will sing the descant clear
For the bricks that disappear
Dawn cracks grey on Charles River glass
Another night shifts to the past
But the hymn stays in my chest
Where the alto parts find rest
Brick by brick I walk the line
Half remembered hymns keep time
Autumn wind through Beacon trees
Sings the alto parts I sing
Brick by brick I walk the line
Half remembered hymns keep time
Autumn wind through Beacon trees
Sings the alto parts I sing
Brick by brick the line goes on
The alto sings when light is gone
