The House Forgot My Name

He came home with a medal in a matchbox And a storm sewn into his sleeve The station clock was running backward Like it had somewhere else to be His mother left the porch light burning His father left the door unlocked But the dog came out, took one good look And hid beneath the block Nobody rang the bell Nobody asked him in The war was over somewhere else But it was rattling in his skin He wore his old life like a borrowed coat With the buttons hanging loose The town had paved around his shadow And had no room for his boots His sweetheart worked at the five-and-dime With a ring on her right hand She said, “You look just like a photograph I don’t quite understand” He took a job unloading thunder At the freight yard by the tracks Every crate had a foreign name Every whistle called him back Nobody rang the bell Nobody asked him in The war was over somewhere else But it was rattling in his skin He wore his old life like a borrowed coat With the buttons hanging loose The town had paved around his shadow And had no room for his boots He slept beneath the kitchen table When the ceiling started to sway He kept his boots beside the bed Facing east at break of day The neighbors said he talked to ghosts The children said he stared He only counted passing cars To see if one was theirs There’s a parade on Main Street For a boy who never came home Brass bands cough in the summer heat While he walks the county road alone He finds a church with a broken steeple And a bell that will not chime He climbs the steps, removes his hat And waits for borrowed time One night he burned his uniform In a barrel by the creek The buttons flashed like tiny moons The smoke made the whole sky weak He left his medals in the ashes He left his name on the ground By morning, only the crows knew What he had carried around Nobody rang the bell Nobody asked him in The war was over somewhere else But it was rattling in his skin He wore his old life like a borrowed coat And walked beyond the town The road had room for broken men But nowhere to lay them down At dawn, the house forgot his footsteps The porch light finally died And somewhere past the water tower A train took the long way out of town Track from the album "Sin Parade"