Hole in the Floor

Trigger Warning

This piece includes themes of violence, childhood trauma, and emotional neglect. Please proceed with care.

Reflection

Some houses hold warmth; the one I grew up in held its breath.

Tension lived in the walls, and even the floorboards carried the weight of something left unsaid.

This is a song about the kind of trauma that weaves itself into the grain of a life, and the impossible weight of an apology that arrives decades too late.

Lyrics

HOLE IN THE FLOOR

I showed up in the summer of '76
Born into a house of broken bricks
You mortared the cracks with the debt and the kids
And a ledger of things that the memory forbids
Four little children learning to read the air
Knowing when to vanish and when not to stare
By the time I packed up my bags to leave
There was nothing left in that house to believe

I remember that Tuesday, the air was thick
The sound of your footsteps making me sick
I stepped to the center and I drew the line
Seventeen years and I’m out of time
I stood like a stone while the room turned to ice
Done asking permission, done taking advice
I’m lucky I left when the moment was right
Before the fire in my blood finally caught light

     I was miles away, I was safe and gone
     While you were in the hallway carrying on
     With a heavy hate and a .38
     A bitter man snapping beneath the weight
     Now there’s a piece of lead in the cold and gloom
     Lodged in the floorboards of my upstairs room

The youngest was standing there, frozen and small
The others were listening through cracks in the wall
I didn’t find out 'til the smoke had cleared
That you finally became what we always feared
Mama changed her name and she walked out the door
But you stayed the same man you had been before

Repeat Chorus

I sat by your bed when the breathing got thin
Watching the light slowly leave your skin
You looked at me through the morphine haze
And apologized for the rest of your days
You said, “Son, I’m sorry for hurting your Ma”
But a hole in the floor was all that I saw

Oh, there’s a piece of lead in the cold and gloom
Lodged in the floorboards of my upstairs room
Yeah, a hole in the floor
Was all that I saw

Copyright

Audio Disclaimer

Lyrics: Original | Audio: AI-Generated

I am a songwriter and a musician, but I am not the voice meant to inhabit these verses.

I've used AI to bridge the gap for the concept demos, crafted to serve as blueprints that capture the genre, tone, and weary soul I hear for each song.

They exist as an invitation, offered in the hope that these lyrics will eventually reach the hands of an artist and storyteller who can bring them fully into the light.

Until then, they remain as they were born: quiet reflections on the grit and grace found just north of the county line.