[Intro] They surveyed the living street And said the dead would stain it So they cut a second line Through the black trees and the ditch [Verse 1] Men with rope and lanterns Dragged the stones out of the clay Laid a path the priest would bless So grief could walk a different way They said a coffin on the high road Would teach the children how to fear They said a body on the main street Would keep the harvest small next year So they built it after sundown With their coats buttoned to the throat And every nail they drove in silence Sounded like a second oath [Pre-Chorus] Don't you take the road they gave us Don't you take the one with names If you carry what you buried Use the one that has no graves [Chorus] They built a road for the dead So the living could stay clean They built a road for the dead And they swore we'd never need But I have walked it with my own two feet With a weight that would not keep They built a road for the dead And the dead are not the only ones it keeps [Verse 2] October came like a collector Putting hands on every door I dressed my shame in decent cloth And told myself I knew the lore You don't speak upon that mile You don't look back toward the town You don't set the box down early You don't let the linen down I had no box. I had a secret I had a name I could not say I had a red thing in my pocket That would not wipe away [Pre-Chorus] Don't you take the road they gave us Don't you take the one with light If you carry what you finished Use the one they hid from sight [Chorus] They built a road for the dead So the living could stay clean They built a road for the dead And they swore we'd never need But I have walked it with my own two feet With a weight that would not keep They built a road for the dead And the dead are not the only ones it keeps [Verse 3] There were marks in the wet shoulder Not from wheels and not from rain There were coins left on a stump Like a mouth that wanted payment I heard a woman singing nothing Just a note against her teeth I heard a man count out his steps Like he was measuring a grief The trees leaned in to listen The ditch ran black and slow And every time I thought of turning The road said, you already know [Bridge] I did not kill him in a story I did not kill him in a song I killed him in a kitchen Where the clock was running wrong I washed the blade. I burned the rag I put my good shirt on Then October opened like a mouth And told me where to walk it off [Breakdown] No priest No bell No witness Just the long dirt and the smell If the living road is mercy Then mercy never learned my name They built a road for the dead And I qualified the same [Verse 4] At the far end there is no chapel There is a gate that does not lock There is a field that takes the boxes And a stone that does not talk I stood there with my empty hands And the thing I could not leave The road behind me held its shape Like a throat that would not breathe I understood the old arrangement Why they cut it from the map If the town saw what we carry It would never let us back [Chorus] They built a road for the dead So the living could stay clean They built a road for the dead And they swore we'd never need But I have walked it with my own two feet With a weight that would not keep They built a road for the dead And the dead are not the only ones it keeps [Final Chorus] They built a road for the dead To hide the cost of being men They built a road for the dead Then they used it now and then If you meet me on that mile Do not ask me what I bring They built a road for the dead And I am still walking [Outro] Lay the stone Keep the main street pretty Hang the lantern Call it holy I know better I have been there They built a road for the dead And it knows my name
