No Name on the Stone

[Intro – Spoken, low] If I don’t make it back… Don’t make a scene out of it. Just… listen. ⸻ [Chorus – Sung, restrained] If I don’t make it home, And they bring me back wrapped in that flag, Take me somewhere quiet… A back road where the wind don’t ask questions. Don’t let my kids stand there and watch the dirt fall. They don’t need that picture in their heads. Just lay me down out there… No crowd, no stone with my name carved in it. ⸻ [Verse 1 – Spoken/Rap, steady, matter-of-fact] Put me where the pavement gives out, Where the weeds grow through like nobody’s coming back. I lived out of bags half my life — Always ready to leave, never fully unpacked. Twenty years carrying weight that don’t show, Sand in my teeth, metal in my hands. I watched good men drop where they stood… And I still don’t know why I’m the one who came back. Their voices don’t leave. They show up when it’s quiet. Names line up in my head every night — Not a list… just something I carry. If you raise a glass, don’t do it for me. Do it for the ones that didn’t get the chance. I’ve been walking around with their share of breath… And I ain’t forgot that. ⸻ [Chorus – Sung, heavier] If I don’t make it home, And they bring me back wrapped in that flag, Take me somewhere quiet… A back road where the wind don’t ask questions. Don’t let my kids stand there and watch the dirt fall. They don’t need that picture in their heads. Just lay me down out there… No crowd, no stone with my name carved in it. ⸻ [Bridge – Spoken, close, almost breaking] No name… Just dirt and wind. I’ve been gone longer than anybody noticed. ⸻ [Verse 2 – Spoken/Rap, slower, reflective] I’ve been through things I don’t say out loud. Some of it done to me… Some of it done by me. There’s gonna be a folded flag in somebody’s hands. That’s for the years I gave… And everything it took out of me. I just hope somewhere along the line It counts for something. For the mistakes I made… For the people I hurt without meaning to… For the wounds that didn’t stay overseas. Tell my girls I love them. Every decision I made — right or wrong — I made thinking it would keep them safe. Tell my boy… Be better than I was. But don’t carry this with you. None of it. The medals don’t say what people think they do. They don’t show the nights. They don’t show the faces. When it’s my time, I won’t fight it. I’ve seen it enough to know how it goes. ⸻ [Chorus – Sung, stripped down] If I don’t make it home, And they bring me back wrapped in that flag, Take me somewhere quiet… A back road where the wind don’t ask questions. Don’t let my kids stand there and watch the dirt fall. They don’t need that picture in their heads. Just lay me down out there… No crowd… no name… ⸻ [Outro – Spoken, fading] Just take me home the long way. That’s enough.