Lyric

I took the long way home

Past the split-rail fence

Past the dent in the mailbox

Past the ditch where June ran dense

My shoes knew every stone

My knees knew every bend

But the house behind the cedar

Was a stranger at the end

Same dust on my ankles

Same sky on my head

But the post by the road bend

Feels like it forgot what I said

The road that raised me

Doesn't know me now

The road that raised me

Looks through me somehow

I walk it slow

I keep my feet low

The road that raised me

Don't know me now

The curve by Miller's field

Still cuts the afternoon

The cracked white paint on the guardrail

Still drinks the light from June

I put my hand on the gate latch

Like I used to as a kid

But the same wind through the cottonwoods

Felt like it hid

Every mile made a name for me

Every stone kept score

Now I stand where I started

And I fit here less than before

The road that raised me

Doesn't know me now

The road that raised me

Looks through me somehow

I walk it slow

I keep my feet low

The road that raised me

Don't know me now

I was ten in the weeds

I was twelve in the rain

Learning how to carry hurt

Learning how to say my name

Now the porch light's off

And the map has changed

But I still hear my young self

In the gravel under me

The road that raised me

Doesn't know me now

The road that raised me

But I know it somehow

I walk it slow

With an old heart low

The road that raised me

Don't know me now