Coming Home

[Verse 1 – adjusted opening only] Wheels hit the runway, pulse still high, Still taste the desert every time I close my eyes. Mom tries to smile, but she’s breaking inside— She can’t see the ghosts that followed me back alive. The dog’s going crazy like he felt me fall, Neighbors cheer, but I don’t feel it at all. They see the uniform, not the weight I drag, I made it home breathing, but pieces stayed in that flag. [Pre-Chorus] The world looks calm, but my chest feels tight, ’Cause I still bolt awake in the middle of the night… [Chorus] I’m home but I’m haunted, Can’t scrub the blood off my soul. Everyone’s smiling, But I still feel alone. Gave everything I had just to make it back here, Now every day’s a battle just to quiet the fear. Yeah, I’m home… yeah, I’m home, But I’m not who I was before. [Verse 2] Drove past the places where my life began, Feels like a stranger in my own hometown skin. The radio’s blasting some “welcome back” song, But it don’t drown out everything that went wrong. Every sunrise hits like a warning shot, A challenge to face every memory I fought. I grin and I nod like I’m fine again, But the war don’t end here—it just finds new ways in. My body’s back, but my heart’s still gone, Stuck in a place where I never belonged… [Chorus] (unchanged) 🧠 [Bridge] Every dream is a flashbang echo, Every sound makes me reach for shadows. But I stand my ground, slow breath by breath— Fighting to pull myself back from the edge. [Final Chorus] I’m home but I’m haunted, Guess that’s part of the cost. Freedom’s a promise Built on everything lost. I gave what I had and I still believe, In the flag, in the fight, in the scars I keep. Yeah, I’m home… yeah, I’m home, But I’ll never be the same no more.