It's been a long day
He's tired and his feet hurt
Roofing nails and shingles
It's a lot of work
It's a long drive to
Forty five each way
The country station is
Where his radio stays
Thinks about his kids
How they're getting all grown up
Thinks about their toys and their dolls
And their pickup trucks
Thinks about their mother
Her smiling big heart
Thinks about how he failed her
How it rips him apart
It's not what he did
It's what he didn't do
Didn't make her feel special
Say enough "I love you's"
It's been a few years now
Still hurts him all the same
She remarried
Took her and the kids on out of state
Now he's living with his mother
On his dead stepdaddy's land
He's sitting on the front porch
Watching the sun set, drinking from a beer can
This is not what he wanted
This is not what he planned
Takes another drink
Reaches for another beer can
How many hours in a day
Or thoughts in a troubled man's mind?
How long must one seek
Before he finds?
How much guilt can one carry
'Fore he can't carry anymore?
And if he doesn't know the way
How does he ever get to the other side of Jordan's shore?
And if he once knew peace
How long 'till he finds it again?
Takes another drink
Reaches for another beer can
He wakes up and it's dark
He rubs his eyes
His head hurts
Stars in the sky
He loves the night
And the peace it brings
Sucks the cold air
Into his lungs deep
He goes inside
Turns out all the lights
Leaves on the fans
Takes off all his clothes
Gets into bed
And he drifts off to a better land . . . . .