Lyric

My feet chose the platform

Before I chose the town

A ticket in my pocket

With no reason written down

The train knew the curve by the river

The fields arrived on time

I watched my face in the window

Become someone almost mine

One lamp above the driveway

Left on from older care

Not waiting, not welcoming

Just doing what it did there

The gate gave way too easily

The weeds brushed at my knees

I had not missed the weather

But it recognized my sleeves

Nothing pulled me home

Nothing told me stay

I came back out of habit

Like checking an old wound

Like setting one more plate

For someone leaving soon

Your mug was by the sink

My chair was somewhere else

The clock kept cutting evening

Into pieces of itself

We spoke in useful sentences

About repairs and rain

No one asked the question

That would make me leave again

There are rituals that outlive love

Roads that outlive need

Keys that keep their purpose

After hands concede

A bus sighed past the window

The dog next door grew old

My coat held city smoke

The room held folded cold

By morning I understood

The visit had no claim

I was not returning

I was repeating a name