Move Me Again

I suppose I might write too fast
Take a second, jot some words
Let the ink take the past
Sometimes time moves too slow
Then I wake up and it's November
Where'd those college times go?

Can't memories just shut their mouths
Can't broken lines just mend again
Tell me where you are in your mind
Just one more time
Be my best friend
He'll move me on again

I suppose sometimes we break hearts
But he's moved on and I will too
In this car that just won't start
Felt summer move under my feet
Just like sands of time, passing through
Parked hiding on your street

Can't the present be loved for what it is
Can't our broken hearts just mend again
Tell me where you are in your mind
Just one more time
Be my best friend
And we'll move me again

And dark whiskey flows under autumn moons
And cold glasses shake our hands
Just hold me tight, here comes this adult life

Can't the present just be loved for what it is
Can't our broken hearts just mend again
Tell me where you are in my mind
Just one more time
Be my best friend
And you'll move me again

Abandon

In this darkness
Of our farthest moment
I can't breathe
Past these broken hearts
Try to heal me
Try to hold me if you can
Say you need me
Say this doesn't have to end

And when you have no hope in you
You're losing faith in us
And when you say we're almost through
I'm giving up on love
And when your promises all break
You better find a way
This sinking ship, can it be saved?
You're abandoning me

It's cold tonight
Winters moving in
We're broken hands to shake
Books piled in the den
A fire running wild
Change this course of fate
A sad old country song
Whining out of this old tape

And when you have no hope in you
You're losing faith in us
And when you say we're almost through
I'm giving up on love
And when your promises all break
You better find a way
This sinking ship, can it be saved?
You're abandoning me

Please don't leave me

The right thing's always the hardest
Find yourself a way
You need to move on
Move on!
Make a stand for you & me

I fell asleep
On your shoulder last night
I guess I don't need you
But I want you to make it alright

And when you have no hope in you
You're losing faith in us
And when you say we're almost through
I'm giving up on love
And when your promises all break
You better find a way
This sinking ship, can it be saved?
You're abandoning me

Lead You Home

I've got your ring
And a moonlit glow
I've got the steering wheel
And miles to go
All these curves
You know, I can't take them slow
But we've got nowhere to go

You've got my hand
And a heart on your sleeve
You change the radio
Like you changed everythin' in me
Every fingertip
You know, it's all that I need
When I don't know who to be

So in this fall faded night
Tell me we'll be alright
Tell me I'm the red & yellow leaves
In all these autumn trees
So in this fog and this wind
Tell me we'll never end
Tell me I'm the moon on road
That leads you back home
Tell me I'll lead you home

These Georgia woods
Have pines for days
We could get lost in the dark
We could make our own maze
In Southern aisles
We could try to find our way
But I'd rather just stay

And in this fall faded night
Tell me we'll be alright
Tell me I'm the red & yellow leaves
In all these autumn trees
So in this fog and this wind
Tell me we'll never end
Tell me I'm the moon on road
That leads you back home
Tell me I'll lead you home

Remember

I remember
The way things used to be
But my dark nights by street lights
Are so long gone

He remembers
The freckles in my eyes
To touch my face, sweep my hair
The sound of my laugh

This can't be some soon to be photos lost in a box
This can't be a overdrawn overexposed lust in life
This is just so much more
And I won't let your memories drown us out
Baby, I won't let them drown you out

I remember
College fall afternoons
The crunch of leaves under boots & trees
Every bit of red

But he remembers
The words to my words
My favorite song about how you did me wrong
And the night we met

This can't be some soon to be photos lost in a box
This can't be a overdrawn overexposed lust in life
This is just so much more
And I won't let your memories drown us out
Baby, I won't let them drown you out

Something about that bar night in my small town
Set me straight, set me stuck on you
I won't get lost in the boxes in my closet
I won't get lost without you

And I won't let their memories drown us out
Baby, I won't let them drown you out

Everything's Alright

The sun is hitting through my blinds
Sifting through piles of white crumpled laundry
Your t-shirts are mixed in mine
And sometimes I swear you're too quick to forget

That job, it pulls you
But I can't stop remembering the night we met
You forget all we do
We've been fighting for this exact moment

And when I hear you say
"Nothings going right,"
I want to run away
Just tell me baby, everything'll be alright

We've made it through my ex-boyfriends and broken hearts
That one fight that almost tore us apart
And the time your pride took you away from me
We've made it through empty bank accounts
And big bills, and every bad rumor we've had to kill
But I know
All this effort just makes me see
Everything's alright when you're next to me

I remember two years ago & before you
When I woke up to every bad day
This is nothing to pain that I once knew
Your eyes now make it all okay

So when you're yelling, so damn frustrated
Can't you see the good in every day?
Our Sunday drives? Our love-filled life?
Tell me you're not runnin' away

I hate to hear you say
"Nothings going right,"
Look out to our whole lives
Just tell me baby, everything'll be alright

We've made it through your ex-girlfriends and broken trust
That one week that almost broke us
And the time my fears almost made me run
We've made it through false friends
And long work weeks, and every cut we've had to mend
But I know
All this effort just makes me see
Everything's alright when you're next to me

Home Again

I used to swear I'd never come back here
I used to swear on big dreams, and a college town
And I thought that I was better
Than all my high school friends who stuck around

But the chill that hits the air tonight
And a hometown crush holding my right hand
Makes home feel like home again
Maybe I just always belonged here

And this small town life I always took for granted
Now shines like the stars without big city bright lights
The wind in my hair, we grew up around here; it all feels right
And now my whole wide world fits in one country night

I fell for the boy who rode my bus
And the homegrown tomatoes in his backyard
The deep red clay that won't wash away
And a front porch beer sitting next to my mom

I thought all my dreams were so damn far away
But maybe my small town is bigger than it seems
Just some football stars and a fall fair are all we have
Maybe I just always belonged here

And this small town life I always took for granted
Now shines like the stars without big city bright lights
The wind in my hair, we grew up around here; it all feels right
And now my whole wide world fits in one country night

Washing Away

I haven't written you in a long time
But with rain down my window it makes me hard to pretend it's okay
You once were the summer on my fingertips, just like sand
Now you're washing away
Hear the thunder, smell the trees, you're here now
But none of this will every be quite the same
I miss your eyes, glowing, still laughing
Now you're washing away

I'm chasing dashboards and street lights
Rowhomes in the dark night
Curbside and a ring hanging by
I'm now just wishing on a soft glow
That I can just come home
And stop all of this rain
Now you're washing away in the rain

Do you remember the fires and tables?
My plea in a parking lot, "stay, baby, stay?"
Do you remember neon lights, up all night?
Now you're washing away

Now we're just washing away.

I Don't Know If I Can Do This.

I don’t know that I can do this.

He once smelled of white t-shirts and grease, cigarettes and stale beer, old garages and car exhausts.
He let me dance on his toes, drive Mom’s first car
…he bought her that car…
He brought me up in love, picked me up in concerts, and showed me things I was too small to see on my own.

I remember,
We used to drive for nowhere, stop for hotdogs, and sing old punk songs no four-year-old should know,
But I knew.
I still know his holes, his eyes, and the way his voice gives podium to the truth.
I still know his fear he glazes with fatherly comfort and strength and he’s stood so tall
For me–for us.

One night Momma left because the bills couldn’t be paid and Daddy tried to put my hair into a tight pink bow, and I cried.
Years later, he smiled to a stadium full of our Tyrone, Georgia smalltown football fans as he held my sister’s hand–proud.
He’s always been proud.

One year later, I was holding his hand as he laid in a hospital bed unable to finger a fork into a soft peach cup.
One year later, I was holding my mother’s hand as she watched her other half lose half his lung to a doctor who had no idea what he even had in his hands.
One year later, I was a woman holding together her father’s small business, her mother’s home, and her sister’s senior year.
One year later, I was a little girl watching her father die,
But he survived.

He fought his whole life to stand for his family and finally he won.
We thought he had won…

So how do I tell my father that I can be that strong again?
How do I face his fears and try to push back the visions of a wedding without someone to lift the veil?
How do I fight my “what-ifs” and tears and own shaking hands to tell him there’s no reason to shake or worry or stress?
He can do this again…

How do I?

How can I write you, look at you, explain to you with words the fear I once felt as I cried into a dark empty night, begging for my father’s life?
And what it means to feel that wordless fear again?
How can I?

Please forgive me if I just stand here with a smile on my face, with a mask of faith.
Forgive me God for my fear shaking in my hands and trying to pry itself through my mouth showing teeth.
I just need him to stand
I need him to believe
I need him to lift me off my own knees.

But how can he when he’s been brought to his own?
How can he?

My father–the man–with the tattoos and motorcycles and scars on the knuckles of his hands.
My father–the man–who puts the fear into my boyfriends and the respect into my heart.
My father–the man–who lost his right lung but never lost his heart, nor his pride.
My father who stands tall with my mother’s ring still holding on to his left hand.
My father–the man.

But my father is just a man. My father is just a man.

I don’t know that I can do this, Daddy, I don’t know that I can do this again.

But here we go again.
We can do this again.

God, I’m praying, I’m begging.
Help us do this again.

God, I’m praying, I’m begging.
Help us do this again.

God, I’m praying, I’m begging.
Help us do this again.

I'm Sorry.

I’m sorry.
I’m sorry you came over that first night.
I’m sorry I cooked for you and let you sleep in my bed.
I’m sorry you kissed me in a dark garden on my green campus.
And I’m sorry I held your hand like you were mine.
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry for the text messages and phone calls and for kissing your ass.
I’m sorry I tried to make you smile and in turn, let you take down my walls.
I’m sorry I wrote for you, to you, about you.
And I’m sorry I ever tried to fill your holes.
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry she broke your heart and I’m sorry I let you break mine.
I’m sorry I confused sickness with arrogance and I’m sorry I ever excused your ego.
I’m sorry I slept in your bed, hugged your mother, and pet your dogs.
I’m sorry I drove in the rain for an hour to sleep in your arms.
I’m so fucking sorry.
I’m sorry I let you let me laugh.
I’m sorry we slow danced and I’m sorry I thought you were a man.
I’m sorry I gave you a chance when I should of known better than to like a boy in a band.
I’m sorry you can’t say we were dating, and damn, I’m glad we never did.
I’m so so sorry.
I’m sorry I let you call me baby, or even kiddo, in your condescending way.
I’m sorry you bought me drinks, or that I even expected you to act like a gentleman.
I’m sorry we played house, I’m sorry you loved my dog, and I’m sorry I thought you were my best friend.
I’m sorry your friends told you what a good woman I am, and how it will hurt I ever leave.
But baby, I’m not sorry I’m leaving.
No, I’m not sorry, I’m gone.

C'mon C'mon

C'mon c'mon
Write me a song
Whisper something smooth
Let me feel you
C'mon c'mon
Let me be your song
I feel your rain
Let me feel that pain
C'mon c'mon

Sitting in a passenger seat
Half moon hangin' down on me
Sendin' love even I can see
C'mon c'mon
Sweet little fingertips
Pushin' secrets against your lips
Sweet scars even I can't fix
C'mon c'mon

Write me a song
Whisper something smooth
Let me feel you
C'mon c'mon
Let me be your song
I feel your rain
Let me feel that pain
C'mon c'mon

Mixtape playing on your skin
Those lyrics let me in
Ryan Adams callin' us again
C'mon c'mon
You're the lines in my eyes
Even your love I can't fight
Trying to push out too many lines
C'mon c'mon

Write me a song
Whisper something smooth
Let me feel you
C'mon c'mon
Let me be your song
I feel your rain
Let me feel that pain
C'mon c'mon

In The Dark

In your passenger seat
I watch the moon
And gathering clouds, rising
You start to scream out
"Baby, this is my part,"
Every part is your part
When we're sitting here
In the dark

Cigarette smoke fills the car
In this southern state
I undo my seatbelt
You're more than I can take
I want to feel you weak
You kiss my hand and cheek
In the dark

Sometimes sometimes I swear
You're something that was all I need
And when you whisper to me
Baby baby baby you're all I need
And maybe I can't write this down
Or tell the truth to you
But this is all I need
In the dark, with you.

And you can tell 'bout your yellow bird
But baby she just went and flew away
You can tell me 'bout your little birds
But baby, that just makes me stay

Sometimes sometimes I swear
You're something that was all I need
And when you whisper to me
Baby baby baby you're all I need
And maybe I can't write this down
Or tell the truth to you
But this is all I need
In the dark, with you.

Write It Down (Your Song)

She said to me,"Baby, write a note,"
She'll stick in a box with pictures of the hearts she broke
She'll say to me, "You're the only one I know,"
So now I'm falling into letters. So now I'm giving up all hope.

And maybe she asked me sweet, "Don't make this about me,"
But the lines in my heart scream, "You have to let me,"

I don't want to break
Anymore walls down
But sometimes these pills I take
Are all I hold on
And save me, save these texts
And maybe we'll be real
I can't stop the pain
But I can write it down
Baby, baby, baby, I'll write it down.

I whispered in the dark, "I know this is so wrong,"
But in little white lies, I color all the pasts gone
I yelled it out, "I swear I didn't mean it!"
And now in this glow I'm writing you your song

And maybe she asked me sweet, "Don't make this about me,"
But the lines in my heart scream, "You have to let me,"

I don't want to break
Anymore walls down
But sometimes these pills I take
Are all I hold on
And save me, save these texts
And maybe we'll be real
I can't stop the pain
But I can write it down
Baby, baby, baby, I'll write it down.

I just don't think you'll ever read it
I just don't think you'll ever need this
But baby, this is for you, about you, to you
But baby, this is for you, about you, I need you

I don't want to break
Anymore walls down
But sometimes these pills I take
Are all I hold on
And save me, save these texts
And maybe we'll be real
I can't stop the pain
But I can write it down
Baby, baby, baby, I'll write it down.