Staring at a cross of splintered wood My sins washed away in Christ’s own blood All my blessings gone though my life it lingers on Going home in my memory
Between the years and the miles I am broken and down Bless me Father, where do I begin On my hands and my knees I go crawling back home To find absolution within
Eighteen years old but not yet a man With misplaced ideologies Recognizing only God as my equal Left home and disgraced my family
With a dream in my head and a reckless soul Sensing I would soon be free I took to heart my granddad’s fables Made up the core of my identity
For eight long years I tramped through the fallout of nuclear society The underclass, forgotten mass in a nation of revelry
Fair the well my old dear friend The road goes ever on but I am going home Back to where it all began
In a filthy, run down tenement I set out to spread God’s name I thought the Word would start the fire And my voice would fan the flames
But I soon learned that in this hopelessness A great many things went unsaid My first lesson was that good intentions Aren’t gonna keep you warm and fed
With no recourse I took a job at the packing house, no one who I could edify As my dreams like leaves in autumn, disappeared before my eyes