Letters That Never Came Home

[Verse 1]
He folded that picture
Creased where her name was signed
Lipstick on the corner
“Come back safe, you’ll be all mine”
He kept it in his breast pocket
Through the dust, through the fire and the rain
Counted days on a bent dog tag
Like a rosary made of pain
[Chorus]
Some come home to crutches
Some come home to graves
Some come home to someone else
Wearin’ the ring they gave
Bullet holes and barbed-wire scars
Ain’t the only kind of shame
There’s a war on the front
And a war when you get off that train
In letters that never came home
And hearts that don’t look the same
[Verse 2]
Joey was barely twenty
Boots still too big for his feet
Talked about trucks and Friday nights
And a girl on Maple Street
He made it through the mortar
Through a night that took half his squad
But he never saw that courthouse
Or the church where he talked to God
[Chorus]
Some come home to crutches
Some come home to graves
Some come home to someone else
Wearin’ the ring they gave
Bullet holes and barbed-wire scars
Ain’t the only kind of shame
There’s a war on the front
And a war when you get off that train
In letters that never came home
And hearts that don’t look the same
[Bridge]
A flag on a porch in August
A black dress out in the yard
Mama reads “We regret to inform you”
Tryin’ not to fall apart
He survived what should’ve killed him
What he didn’t make it through
Was the boy he left back yonder
And the life he never knew
[Chorus]
Some come home in pieces
Some never cross that sea
Some come home to strangers’ eyes
Where their whole world used to be
Bullet holes and barbed-wire scars
Cut deep, but so does a name
On a stone, on a door
On a letter that shifted the blame
There’s a war on the front
And a war when you get off that train
For the ones who made it back alive
And the kids who never came home again

country, Traditional country ballad, male vocals. Slow 3/4 waltz with brushed snare, upright bass, weeping pedal steel, and warm fiddle fills. First verse stays intimate with just acoustic guitar and soft vocal; chorus swells slightly with harmony, steel, and fiddle answering the vocal lines. Second verse adds gentle piano touches. Bridge pulls the band down to near silence, then a final, resigned chorus blooms with stacked harmonies and a lingering steel outro., traditional country, male vocals