[Verse 1] I watched his lights go out past the bay. Stood on those boards with nothing to say. Truck took three tries in the gravel and shell — I laughed at that engine like it could tell. [Pre-Chorus] Twenty-two miles, and I did the math. Five years at the end of his path. [Chorus] I'm not the dock. Not the light left on. Not the thing you leave when the wanting's gone. He can have the water — every mile and more. I've got a sky I never thought to look for. Call it late, call it selfish, call it about damn time — I'm gone. And this time the leaving is mine. [Verse 2] Grass strip out past where the citrus groves end. Man named Ray rents an hour at ten. White-knuckled the yoke till the airframe went light — Coastline unspooled and I laughed at the height. [Pre-Chorus] Nine hundred feet and the harbor went small. Turns out I was the one who was standing tall. [Chorus] I'm not the dock. Not the light left on. Not the thing you leave when the wanting's gone. He can have the water — every mile and more. I've got a sky I never thought to look for. Call it late, call it selfish, call it about damn time — I'm gone. And this time the leaving is mine. [Bridge] Eleven years out — an F B O line. Gray in his beard. A ring that's not mine. He said, "You look good." I said, "Yeah. I know." He asked what I fly. "The white one. Front row." King Air out front, my name on the door. Tampa charter. Quarter past four. He nodded real slow and watched my crew land. He just said, "That's real good." as he shook my hand. Neither of us said what we meant. He went south with his boat. and into the sky is where I went. [Guitar solo] [Final Chorus] I'm not the dock. Never was the light left on. Don't need him lost to know that I'm not gone. He can have the water. Hope he found his shore. I quit keeping score over the Gulf at four. Call it late, call it selfish, call it about damn time — I'm gone. And the leaving was mine. [Outro] His lights went under the curve of the bay. Now the bay goes under the curve of my wing. I'm gone. And the leaving was mine.
