Verse 1 Fresh-cut grass. … Gasoline. … That’s all it took. The pavement disappeared. The traffic disappeared. My hands weren’t these hands anymore. They were smaller. Dirt beneath the fingernails. Bare feet. Green hose. Sunburn. Saturday. June. ⸻ Verse 2 “Don’t drink it yet!” Dad laughed… Still pulling on that stubborn rope. One pull. Nothing. Two pulls. Smoke. Three… The whole backyard came alive. I couldn’t wait. The hose spit fire first. Hot rubber. Sunshine. Dust. Wait… Just wait… Then— Cold. So cold it hurt your teeth. And somehow… That was the best water… You’d ever taste. ⸻ Chorus Oh, the smell of June… How one breath can bend the years. Fresh-cut grass and gasoline… Now I’m standing here… and there. Honeybees and barefoot dreams… Sky so big it swallowed me… One small yard… one endless afternoon… Home… Had the smell of June. ⸻ Verse 3 A clothespin. One baseball card. Click… Click… Click-click-click… Until that bicycle Wasn’t a bicycle anymore. It was freedom. It was thunder. It was the fastest thing A little boy Had ever known. The screen door slammed. Mom yelled, “Supper!” We all yelled, “Five more minutes!” Like five minutes Could last forever. Back then… Sometimes… They did. ⸻ Pre-Chorus Nobody knew… We weren’t making memories. We were making… The people… We’d become. ⸻ Chorus Oh, the smell of June… How one breath can bend the years. Fresh-cut grass and gasoline… Now I’m standing here… and there. Honeybees and barefoot dreams… Sky so big it swallowed me… One small yard… one endless afternoon… Home… Had the smell of June. ⸻ Bridge Rain… On blacktop. Lightning bugs… Inside a jar. Grandma’s kitchen. Cold watermelon. Tree bark. Scraped knees. The smell… Inside the garage. The taste… Of the second drink… From the hose. … Funny thing. I thought… I missed… Being a kid. But that’s not it. I miss believing… The whole world… Could fit… Inside one backyard. ⸻ Final Chorus Oh, the smell of June… How one breath can bend the years. Fresh-cut grass and gasoline… Now I’m standing here… and there. Dad still laughing by the mower… Honeybees still cross the clover… Somewhere, another little boy… Is waiting for the water to turn cold. One deep breath… One summer wind… One ordinary miracle… Called June. ⸻ Outro Tomorrow… The wind… Will carry… Fresh-cut grass… To someone else. And for one impossible moment… Time… Will forget… To move.
