(Solo Acoustic Intro – soft wind, distant crickets) I’ve spent a lotta nights Talking to ghosts nobody else can see (Verse 1) There’s a worn-out chair beside my own Out on the porch when the night gets cold I still leave space like they might show up Laughing loud and raising coffee cups Cause in my mind they never really aged Still young men frozen in yesterday Boots on the rail and dirt on their hands Making jokes only brothers understand (Pre-Chorus) And every year that passes by Feels like carrying one more mile (Chorus) If heaven has front porches I know they’re waiting there The boys who never made it home Sitting in old wooden chairs Talking loud and giving me hell Like no time passed at all And I’ll keep carrying every one of them Till I finally get that call To sit beside my brothers again If heaven has front porches (Verse 2) I made it back when they didn’t get the chance So I’ve tried to live enough for all those men Still hear their voices in the dead of night Still see their faces under neon lights And people thank me for my sacrifice But they don’t see the ones I left behind Cause part of me never crossed back over Still standing shoulder to shoulder (Pre-Chorus) And some wounds don’t bleed anymore But they never really heal (Chorus) If heaven has front porches I know exactly where they’ll be The boys who carried all my fears When war was swallowing me Yeah I can almost hear them now Somewhere past the dark Waiting on one more brother Still carrying them inside his heart (Bridge – stripped down, emotional) I wonder if they know How many nights I still talk to them How every firework and thunderstorm Brings pieces back again And maybe surviving wasn’t luck Maybe it became my job To remember every story For the ones who got lost (Slow emotional build – steel guitar/strings) Cause they deserved more birthdays More sunsets… more time And I’ll spend the rest of mine Making sure they never die (Final Chorus – soaring emotional lift) If heaven has front porches I hope there’s room for one more chair Where the boys who never made it home Still wait without a care And someday when my watch is done And these tired hands finally rest I’ll walk up smiling through those gates And hear them all yell: “Took your sweet time getting here…” (Outro – soft chuckle/wind fade) And for the first time in a long time… I won’t be carrying them alone anymore.
