The Hallway by the Door

Lyrics

[Verse 1] He left before the school bus came A thermos rattled on the dash His little girl had birthday candles He watched the pictures after the fact A paper plate with his name on it Still folded in the kitchen drawer He called her from a truck-stop payphone Then drove until he couldn't talk anymore [Chorus] He carries home in a photograph And a ring of keys beneath the seat Every mile pays somebody's mortgage Every mile takes a piece of peace He knows the weight of every highway But not the hallway by the door A stranger in the house he built Who only knows the lonely road [Verse 2] He missed his brother's wedding vows And his mother's final winter day He sent a suit and flowers eastbound While the rig kept pulling him away His wife says, "You should come home now" He says, "I will," and means it when he speaks But the freight is due by morning And the company is counting every week [Chorus] He carries home in a photograph And a ring of keys beneath the seat Every mile pays somebody's mortgage Every mile takes a piece of peace He knows the weight of every highway But not the hallway by the door A stranger in the house he built Who only knows the lonely road [Bridge] At a red light outside Amarillo He bows his head against the wheel Asks God to keep the porch light burning And teach his hands what home can feel He can't turn back the years behind him Can't unmiss what he has missed So he prays the next life finds him Where the ones he loves are still within his reach [Chorus] He carries home in a photograph And a ring of keys beneath the seat Every mile pays somebody's mortgage Every mile takes a piece of peace He knows the weight of every highway But not the hallway by the door A stranger in the house he built Who only knows the lonely road [Outro] The cab rolls on beneath the county signs His daughter's picture fades beside the dash A lonely trumpet answers in the darkness For all the years that never came back He drives alone into the night He drives alone into the night