Verse 1 I can still see him in that coat, Boots too big for a boy so small, I held his face at the station gate, Tried not to break when I let him go. The whistle cried as they called him in, Took my whole world down that track, I waved until I couldn’t see— And prayed somehow he’d find his way back to me. Pre-Chorus Every night I’d wait alone, For the sound of the postman’s feet… Chorus He wrote, “I’m fine, don’t you worry ‘bout me,” Just rain on the fields and sleep, But a mother knows what the ink won’t say— What he buried too deep. I held those lines like they were his hands, But they slipped right through in time, You can hide a war from the world outside… But not in the ink between the lines. Verse 2 Said the poppies bloomed out in the fields, Said the nights weren’t half that cold, But the spaces there between his words Felt heavier than what he told. I read each page a thousand times, Tracing every crooked line, Trying to find the boy I raised In the silence living there. Pre-Chorus Every prayer I sent would say, “Bring him home to me…” Chorus He wrote, “I’m fine, don’t you worry ‘bout me,” Just rain on the fields and sleep, But a mother knows what the ink won’t say— What he buried too deep. I held those lines like they were his hands, But they slipped right through in time, You can hide a war from the world outside… But not in the ink between the lines. Bridge He came back standing in my door, But he don’t look at me the same, I say his name… but it don’t land… Like it used to when he came. There’s no letter now to hold onto, No words I can read and find— Just a war that hasn't left him… And no ink to help this time. Final Chorus He says, “I’m fine… don't you worry about me" But a mother knows what he doesn't say, Now I can see it in his eyes As the light drifts away. I’d give anything to reach his heart, Just to turn back the time— You can hide a war from the world outside… But not in the ink between the lines. © 2026 Rushell MacDonald. All rights reserved
