[Verse 1] He didn’t come in a limousine or a suit of silk and thread He wore a shirt just like my own and shared my daily bread He spoke about our troubles with a low and steady "we" And he promised us a reckoning for the rot we couldn’t see He pointed to the rafters where the fleas began to bite And said, "I’ve got the cure, boys, if you’ll give me one more night." [Verse 2] Well, the fleas are gone, it’s true enough, he kept his word on that But the timber's charred and fallen where the family used to chat He didn't just strike a match to the floorboards and the bed He torched the forty acres just to make sure they were dead Now we’re standing in the ashes of the things we used to love While he’s looking for a medal from the empty clouds above. [Chorus] But it ain't just the harvest, it’s the way you plowed the field It ain't just the victory, it’s the way you made 'em yield You can’t brag about the quiet if you killed the morning song Or say you fixed the right by doing everybody wrong You can’t say "Look what I have done" with a prideful, steady eye If you left a trail of broken souls beneath a blackened sky. [Verse 3] Now they say we’ll just start over, like the spring follows the rain But there’s a heat that stays inside the dirt and brings a different pain The topsoil’s turned to glass and the well has all run dry You can’t plant a garden where you let the spirit die It takes a hundred years to grow what he broke in half a day And some things, once they’re turned to ash... they simply stay that way. [Bridge] A wolf don't always howl, friend, sometimes he hums a tune That sounds like common sense beneath a silver-plated moon But when the smoke is clearing and you’re standing in the dirt You find out that the "healing" did most all the hurt. [Outro] Yeah, the fleas are gone... But the home is gone, too. And you can't build on nothing
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