Porchlight Train

I found your note in the sugar tin

Folded up small by the window ledge

It said, “ Don’t wait on the world for me”

So I let the porchlight guard your edge

You left your boots by the back door mat

One lace torn loose from the county road

I still hear you laughing in the screen door slap

Like a tired old song I already know

And I stood there a while

With the night pressed in my hand

If love is a river

I was learning where it ran

Come back home, come back home

The porchlight’s burning slow

Come back home, come back home

I’m still here, you know

(come back home)

Bring your hurt, bring your load

Lay it down, let it go

Come back home, come back home

I’m still here, you know

The kettle sings on the iron stove

Your coat still hangs by the cedar beam

I water the basil on the sill for you

Like it might keep your footsteps in the seam

Your mama called with the summer rain

Said the fields were good and the beans came in

I told her I’d leave the gate unlatched

In case you found your way back in

And the road can bend

Till it disappears from sight

But a faithful heart

Can wait all night

Come back home, come back home

The porchlight’s burning slow

Come back home, come back home

I’m still here, you know

(come back home)

Bring your hurt, bring your load

Lay it down, let it go

Come back home, come back home

I’m still here, you know

If the miles got hard

And the cold got in your bones

You don’t have to be brave

To be loved back home

Come back home, come back home

The porchlight’s burning slow

Come back home, come back home

I’m still here, you know

(come back home)

Bring your hurt, bring your load

Lay it down, let it go

Come back home, come back home

I’m still here, you know