The Long Shortcut

[Verse 1] She left at seventeen convinced the front door was too slow Took the clever way, the back road, all the turns the bold ones know Crossed a dozen years to get there, paid in blisters and in rent And the place that she arrived at was the place from which she went [Chorus] It's the long shortcut, the route that swears it's quick All the cleverness and mileage just to learn the oldest trick You can run the whole world over chasing faster, chasing far And the shortcut takes a lifetime back to wherever you are [Verse 2] A man rebuilt his father's life he swore he'd never lead Same town, same kind of kindness, same slow patience in the deed He thought that he'd escaped it on the highway and the plane And the detour brought him home again, the wiser for the pain [Chorus] It's the long shortcut, the route that swears it's quick All the cleverness and mileage just to learn the oldest trick You can run the whole world over chasing faster, chasing far And the shortcut takes a lifetime back to wherever you are [Bridge] The front door would have given him the house but not the eyes The plain thing has to lose you first before you see the prize So the wandering's not wasted and the circle's not a cage It's the only road that teaches you to read your starting page [Bandoneon and Steel Solo] [Chorus] It's the long shortcut, and nobody's the fool You take the scenic decades just to graduate the school You could've stayed and saved the miles, but you never would have known That the shortcut was the long way and the long way led you home [Outro] The same porch light, the same screen door, the same old turning key (long way, long way) And finally able to see