[Verse 1]
Traveling down that dirt road slow
Dust on my boots, no place to go
Old fence posts lean like they know
What a child learns when love won’t show
I seen the same face, same cold hand
Same kind of hurt in different land
A word withheld, a slammed-up door
Disrespect dressed like "one more chore"
[Pre-Chorus]
And it comes back
Clear as pain
A small little cut
That opens again
[Chorus]
That dirt road pattern
(That dirt road pattern)
Same old pattern
(That dirt road pattern)
Abuse and neglect
Run through the bones
I keep on seeing
What I was shown
[Verse 2]
At the creek bank, I stop and stare
Broken bottle glass in the weeds out there
Every "go away" and every shrug
Leaves a dark stain like a dried-up blood
Mama said "be still," so I stood too long
Tried to make a place from what was wrong
Now I spot that look before it lands
A turned-away heart, a pointed hand
[Pre-Chorus]
And it comes back
Hard and plain
Like a bootprint deep
In fresh spring rain
[Chorus]
That dirt road pattern
(That dirt road pattern)
Same old pattern
(That dirt road pattern)
Abuse and neglect
Run through the bones
I keep on seeing
What I was shown
[Bridge]
I’m not crazy
I’m not blind
I just know the shape
Of the hurt in time
If you leave a child
With nothing but smoke
They grow up counting
Every joke
[Chorus]
That dirt road pattern
(That dirt road pattern)
Same old pattern
(That dirt road pattern)
Abuse and neglect
Run through the bones
I keep on seeing
What I was shown
[Outro]
Traveling down that dirt road still
Trying to name what the silence will
Every bruise had a story to tell
And I heard mine
Too well