Almost 22

There was a night when the bottle won
And the devil knew my name
Dashboard glow on an empty road
And my heart was fallin’ like rain
Radio preachin’ salvation songs
But I couldn’t hear a sound
Just a cold dark thought in the back of my mind
Sayin’, “Son… just lay it down”
Somewhere in the silence
Through the whiskey and the pain
I heard a voice like thunder
Whisperin’ my name
I was one more soul from bein’ twenty-two
One more name they’d read in the evening news
One more ghost in a folded flag of blue
When the dark tried to claim my soul
But the good Lord grabbed my shoulder
Said, “Boy… you ain’t through”
Now every sunrise that I see
Is borrowed light I never knew
Yeah… I almost woke up
As number twenty-two
I wear my past like a battle scar
Not a chain around my neck
Every mile of road behind me
Is a ghost I won’t forget
Some nights the shadows whisper
Tryin’ to drag me back again
But I remember that cold dark road
And the man I almost been
I was one more soul from bein’ twenty-two
One more name they’d read in the evening news
One more ghost in a folded flag of blue
When the dark tried to claim my soul
But the good Lord grabbed my shoulder
Said, “Boy… you ain’t through”
Now every sunrise that I see
Is borrowed light I never knew
Yeah… I almost woke up
As number twenty-two
If you’re standin’ where I stood that night
With the world closin’ in on you
Brother, I swear that dawn will come
If you just make it through
And I won’t promise easy answers
Or a road without the rain
But sometimes just survivin’
Is the first step outta pain
I was one more soul from bein’ twenty-two
One more name they’d read in the evening news
One more ghost in a folded flag of blue
When the dark tried to claim my soul
But the good Lord grabbed my shoulder
Said, “Boy… you ain’t through”
Now every sunrise that I see
Is borrowed light I never knew
Yeah… I almost woke up
As number twenty-two

male, gritty country, country, emotional