Came home too late

Lyrics

[Verse 1] We were sixteen underneath those Friday night lights, Her hand in mine, everything felt right. Names in a heart carved into that old oak tree, She swore forever, and forever sounded easy. Graduation came with a bugle's lonely call, Duty wore my name before I had it all. She cried on my shoulder at the county line, Said, "Come back to me... I'll be here every time." [Chorus] I came home too late, with dust on my boots, A pocket full of letters and a heart full of truth. She stood on that porch with a baby on her side, Another man's ring caught the tears in her eyes. She still loved the memory, but life had moved on, Some prayers get answered after the moment is gone. I saluted the life she had built without me, Then I turned back toward the war... where I was meant to be. [Verse 2] She said she'd waited as long as she could, Holding on to promises the best way she knew. The silence grew louder with every passing year, Until another soul helped dry her tears. I tipped my hat to the little ones at play, They smiled at a stranger, then they ran away. She whispered, "Part of my heart never left your side," But forever had already changed with time. [Bridge] The battlefield don't care about old photographs, Or a first kiss living in the past. When the bullets fell beneath a foreign sky, Her name was the last prayer crossing my mind. A folded flag and a knock upon her door, The boy she once loved wasn't coming home anymore. [Final Chorus] I came home too late, that's the hardest part, War stole the years but couldn't steal her heart. She raised her family with the love she had found, While my story ended in distant battlegrounds. If heaven's got a porch where old memories stay, Maybe we'll finish what time took away. Until that morning, let this old song say... Some loves last forever... even when they can't stay.