Never Come Home

[Verse 1]
Maybe time has brought some changes
Maybe I remember wrong
It stands to reason I've grown softer
I was married for so long
I took a chill late last April
Lost thirty pounds by mid July
Not that the old place was the answer
Just one last thing that I could try
I had scarcely laid my bag down
When my misjudgement hit me square
I was welcomed like a guilty prisoner
Old grievances fouled the air

[Chorus]
Four hundred miles mean nothing
One mans troubles are his own
The land is run down and ragged
I should have never come home

[Verse 2]
There's a couple of babies in the cradle
Sister's gone east for a time
Mama's boiling water by the wood stove
Neighbours stealing glances through the blind
Now she's looking at me through their eyes
And I see the thought she hides in vain
All my years among the silken-tongued, the fallen
Have made this cancer in my brain
Cheap coal's spilling from the hilltops
The earth is shaking from them old drag lines
But when these little towns lie sleeping
It's like it must have been before mankind
Watch the wild mid summer moonlight
Drifting slow across the lawn
Catch the outlines the creation
As morning comes on
Now there's cousins dropping in from Briersville
With self regard these baptists farely shine
Mama gives them high admiration
Contempt is the best that I can find

[Chorus]
Four hundred miles mean nothing
One mans troubles are his own
Sick and torn from wife and children
I should have never come home

[Verse 3]
I hear them whispering my name
Late at night beneath my room
Their voices rise as they grow drunker
Black vultures gathering at my tomb
Humbled by the ancient jewish prophets
Dazzled by the distant network theme
Born by the promise of tomorrow
Bury me with all speed
Now I was born in New York City
Down here I'm near a slave
Can't hardly take in one more body
Can't afford another grave

[Chorus]
Four hundred miles mean nothing
One mans troubles are his own
This land is run down and ragged
I should have never come home