[Intro]
Boots on the platform
Tag on a threadbare coat
Mother’s hands shaking
As the whistle cuts her throat (inside)
[Verse 1]
We were nineteen
Fresh ink on our names
Laughed at the maps
Like it was some game
Mud on the letters
Blood on the sleeves
Prayed like children
To a god that leaves
[Chorus]
We came home older than our fathers
Eyes full of thunder and wire
Sleep caught on bodies and shadows
Breath tasting smoke and fire
They said, "You’re lucky, you made it"
But I never left that field
I keep marching in my mind
On a wound that will not heal
[Verse 2]
Rain fills the craters
Sky hangs a dirty sheet
Orders barked louder
Than the heart inside my chest can beat
Face of my brother
There, then gone
Still hear him calling
When the kettle hums at dawn
[Chorus]
We came home older than our fathers
Eyes full of thunder and wire
Sleep caught on bodies and shadows
Breath tasting smoke and fire
They said, "You’re lucky, you made it"
But I never left that field
I keep marching in my mind
On a wound that will not heal
[Bridge]
They lined the streets
With flags and cheers (so loud)
I flinched at every bursting sound
A dropped plate
A slamming door
And I was back there
Crawling through that foreign shore
Tell me, how do I lay down
When my bed is made of names?
How do I grow old
With a heart carved full of graves?
[Chorus]
We came home older than our fathers
Eyes full of thunder and wire
Sleep caught on bodies and shadows
Breath tasting smoke and fire
They said, "You’re lucky, you made it"
But I never left that field
I keep marching in my mind
On a wound that will not heal
[Outro]
Boots by the bedside
Dust on a folded coat
Still hear the whistle
Still feel the throat
Of a boy who never
Got to become a man
Lost in a war
He still can’t understand