Homecoming - Vienna Teng

[ti:homecoming]
[ar:Vienna Teng]
[al:Warm Strangers]

[offset:500]
[00:16.21]it’s desert ice outside
[00:18.66]but this diner has thawed my ears
[00:22.28]hot coffee in a clean white mug
[00:27.58]and a smile when the waitress hears
[00:29.45]that I was born in North Carolina
[00:33.39]not an hour from her home town
[00:37.41]and we used to play the same pizza parlor pinball
[00:45.70]and there’s a glance in time suspended
[00:49.39]as I wonder how it is
[00:52.84]we’ve been swept up just by circumstance
[00:56.58]to where the coyote lives
[01:00.36]where my days are strips of highway
[01:04.62]and she’s wiping tables down
[01:08.34]holding on and still waiting for that windfall
[01:16.50]but I’ve come home
[01:23.66]even though I’ve never had so far to go
[01:31.70]I’ve come home
[01:48.17]I pay the check and leave the change
[01:50.92]from a crumpled ten-dollar bill
[01:55.00]head across the street
[01:56.59]where VACANCY is burning in neon still
[02:02.78]well the night eats up my body heat
[02:06.18]and there’s no sign of another
[02:10.17]and I find myself slipping down into that black
[02:18.77]but things are good
[02:20.80]I’ve got a lot of followers of my faith
[02:24.95]I’ve got a whole congregation
[02:28.82]living in my head these days
[02:32.65]and I’m preaching from the pulpit
[02:36.76]to cries of “Amen brother”
[02:41.03]closing my eyes to feel the warmth come back
[02:48.47]and I’ve come home
[02:55.31]even though I swear I’ve never been so alone
[03:03.69]I’ve come home
[03:18.60]I just want to be living as I’m dying
[03:23.10]just like everybody here
[03:26.47]just want to know
[03:27.85]my little flicker of time is worthwhile
[03:33.87]and I don’t know where I’m driving to
[03:38.30]but I know I’m getting old
[03:41.70]and there’s a blessing in every moment every mile
[04:05.95]thin white terry bars of soap
[04:09.03]and a couple little plastic cups
[04:12.64]old Gideons Bible
[04:15.48]in the nightstand drawer saying “Go on open up”
[04:20.08]well I’ll kneel down on the carpet here
[04:24.68]though I never was sure of God
[04:28.02]think tonight I’ll give Him
[04:30.90]the benefit of the doubt
[04:36.50]I switch off the lights and imagine
[04:39.04]that waitress outlined in the bed
[04:43.29]her hair falling all around me
[04:47.23]I smile and shake my head
[04:50.80]well we all write our own endings
[04:54.74]and we all have our own scars
[04:58.79]but tonight I think I see what it’s all about
[05:06.68]because I’ve come home
[05:22.70]I’ve come home