For Dave

Verse

We met where dreamers traded gold

You heard my small idea take hold

You followed me into the hall

Said "Build it" — and you changed it all

Pre-chorus

The road was long, the path unclear

But you kept showing up each year

Chorus

You were the handshake and the hallway

The deal that finally made it real

Hundreds of hours of honest friendship

The kind of friend that time can't steal

You lifted every room you walked in

Left every heart a little more

I'm still learning how to live now

In a world without your open door

Verse

In retirement you kept on giving

A thousand hours, you didn't slow

Grandkids across the street were living

The best chapter — you told me so

Pre-chorus

I reach for my phone to call you still

Guess time will teach me that it will

Chorus

You were the handshake and the hallway

The deal that finally made it real

Hundreds of hours of honest friendship

The kind of friend that time can't steal

You lifted every room you walked in

Left every heart a little more

I'm still learning how to live now

In a world without your open door

Bridge

May your family feel the peace of a life well spent and true

May heaven have a hallway so Dave can walk someone through

Outro

Rest now, friend — your work was true

Someone up there's being lifted by you