Roaches running by the doorway Baby crying down the hall Someone arguing in the kitchen Someone punching through the wall A man stands beneath the streetlight Smoking where the shadows roam He flicks the fire toward the rats Then whispers, this is home This is home Where the ceiling leaks when it rains This is home Where the night knows everybody’s name It isn’t much But it’s all I’ve ever known So I close the door behind me And I tell myself, this is home Years went by without permission Paint peeled farther from the walls Some doors closed and never opened No one answered when she called Names she knew became old echoes Faces faded one by one Every hallway felt much longer When there was nowhere else to run This is home Where the silence fills the rooms This is home Where the morning comes too soon It isn’t much But it’s all I’ve ever known So I sit beside the window And I tell myself, this is home she remembers someone laughing In a room that’s empty now she remembers making promises Though she can’t remember how The city changed around her While she stayed where she had been Holding on to every doorway Like they might let her back in Cold wind beneath the overpass Traffic rolling overhead A folded coat becomes a pillow Concrete underneath her bed she watches light move on the water As the evening settles in Pulls her collar to her shoulders And lets another night begin This is home Where the river meets the stone This is home Where a woman can disappear alone It isn’t much But it’s all I’ve ever known So I close my eyes beneath the bridge And tell myself, this is home Roaches running by the doorway Baby crying down the hall A young woman once stood listening With her back against the wall The years were never kind to her But still she carried on Every place she tried to leave behind Became the place she called home This is home Not the walls or broken doors This is home It’s the life that came before It isn’t much But it’s everything she’s known And somewhere in the darkness she still whispers, this is home
