[ti:Homecoming]
[ar:Vienna Teng]
[al:Warm Strangers]
[00:16.22]it's desert ice outside but this diner has thawed my ears
[00:22.65]hot coffee in a clean white mug and a smile when the waitress hears
[00:30.37]that I was born in North Carolina
[00:34.11]not an hour from her home town
[00:37.81]and we used to play the same pizza parlor pinball
[00:43.97]
[00:45.38]and there's a glance in time suspended as I wonder how it is
[00:52.33]we've been swept up just by circumstance to where the coyote lives
[01:00.11]where my days are strips of highway
[01:04.61]and she's wiping tables down
[01:08.27]holding on and still waiting for that windfall
[01:14.89]
[01:16.41]but I've come home
[01:23.99]even though I've never had so far to go
[01:31.79]I've come home
[01:44.09]
[01:48.18]I pay the check and leave the change from a crumpled ten-dollar bill
[01:54.49]head across the street where VACANCY is burning in neon still
[02:02.18]well the night eats up my body heat
[02:06.28]and there's no sign of another
[02:09.77]and I find myself slipping down into that black
[02:17.23]
[02:17.92]but things are good I've got a lot of followers of my faith
[02:25.01]I've got a whole congregation living in my head these days
[02:32.41]and I'm preaching from the pulpit
[02:36.43]to cries of “Amen brother”
[02:40.87]closing my eyes to feel the warmth come back
[02:48.07]
[02:48.29]and I've come home
[02:55.25]even though I swear I've never been so alone
[03:03.06]I've come home
[03:16.74]
[03:18.39]I just want to be living as I'm dying
[03:23.11]just like everybody here
[03:26.32]just want to know my little flicker of time is worthwhile
[03:33.65]and I don't know where I'm driving to
[03:37.99]but I know I'm getting old
[03:41.54]and there's a blessing in every moment every mile
[03:56.59]
[04:05.08]thin white terry bars of soap and a couple little plastic cups
[04:12.23]old Gideons Bible in the nightstand drawer saying “Go on open up”
[04:20.04]well I'll kneel down on the carpet here
[04:23.85]though I never was sure of God
[04:27.33]think tonight I'll give Him the benefit of the doubt
[04:33.14]
[04:35.53]I switch off the lights and imagine that waitress outlined in the bed
[04:42.55]her hair falling all around me
[04:47.10]I smile and shake my head
[04:50.38]well we all write our own endings
[04:54.51]and we all have our own scars
[04:58.28]but tonight I think I see what it's all about
[05:05.75]
[05:05.93]because I've come home
[05:21.49]I've come home