Dust on the Tailgate

You left your cap by the door

Still got your name in the brim

Coffee gone cold on the sink

And the whole house feels thin

Your boots by the mat

Got red clay in the seams

I keep stepping around them

Like they still belong to me

And I laugh, then I cry

For the way things were

One cracked little photo

Keeps on pulling me back there

Dust on the tailgate

Your hand on my knee

Dust on the tailgate

What used to be

If I let go now

Would you fade away?

Dust on the tailgate

Still shines some days

Mama said time is a river

It carries off the pain

But some mornings at first light

I still taste your name

The porch board creaks like a memory

When the front screen swings

I can almost hear you saying

Baby, don’t overthink things

And I stand in the yard

Where the grass grows high

With the same old ache

And the same big sky

Dust on the tailgate

Your hand on my knee

Dust on the tailgate

What used to be

If I let go now

Would you fade away?

Dust on the tailgate

Still shines some days

Maybe love don’t leave clean

Maybe it drifts and stays

In a coffee-ring on the table

And a worn-out place

So I fold up the hurt

Like a shirt I forgot

Set it down in the sun

Let it be what it’s got

Dust on the tailgate

Your hand on my knee

Dust on the tailgate

What used to be

If I let go now

Would you fade away?

Dust on the tailgate

Still shines some days

Still shines some days

Still shines some days

Dust on the tailgate