Gun In God’s Shadow

Boot prints on the church house steps, red dirt and last night’s sins

Whiskey on my Sunday breath, smoke still stuck in my skin

That pistol’s heavy on my hip, like a sin I can’t wash off

Every time I swear I’ll quit, someone ends up in the ground I walked

I ain’t prayed in a long damn time

But the steeple keeps watching me like a trial

I ruin everything I touch

Turn good love into tail lights, gold rings into rust

Every town I ride through learns my name in blood

Got a past full of crosses, not a one I can outrun

On these church house steps at dawn, with my back against the Son

I ruin everything I touch… even this gun

Barroom bibles, motel walls, written in ash and lies

She traced halos on my arm, said there’s still a man inside

But this cursed cold piece of steel, knows the blood on both my hands

Every grudge I swore I’d heal, it just talked me into taking a stand

I hear choirs in the sheriff’s lights

Like the angels showed up just to watch me fight

I ruin everything I touch

Turn sweet lips into goodbye, soft hearts into dust

Every vow I ever made got buried in the mud

Got a past full of coffins, and I’m the common cut

On these church house steps at dusk, stained glass on my knuckles

I ruin everything I touch… even your trust

Bell tower ringing like it’s counting off my sins

Pistol whispering, “pull me,” while the preacher looks within

I see a shadow in that doorway with a Bible to their chest

Mouths, “Son, you ain’t too far gone,” but I’m already halfway west Thunder in the distance sounds like God just cocked a gun

If He’s aiming for my shadow, I won’t even try to run

’Cause I ruin everything I touch

Put holes in every promise, drag heaven through the dust

If redemption’s in that river, I’ll just turn it into mud

Got a heart like a bullet, only language I know’s blunt

On these church house steps alone, spitting blood into my palms

I ruin everything I touch…

I ruin everything I touch

So I lay that pistol down, right there by the chapel door

Say if You want this cursed thing, it ain’t mine no more

Then I walk off in the sunrise, with the sirens waking up

Leaving one thing in this town I didn’t burn or blow up…

’Cause I ruin everything I touch