The Tunnel

Near the old folk's home past Page Street and Ash
That patch of woods next to the pink laundromat
The things you learn in middle school, you don't learn in class
Stole some weed from your uncle, so we hopped the fence
By the Section 8 housing, back when we were best friends
You saw a brick wall, I found a path

The smell of summer water with nowhere to go
Hanging like vampires under the road

You said, "You can't get out the same way you came in"
Fifteen, you're a kid, sixteen, it changes
Those walls could've caved in any second for all that I knew
So I held my breath, said a prayer, and kept running
Till the shape of the end took the afternoon sun in
I don't know how it works or how God picks who gets to get through
It just seems like a lot of life's been mostly the tunnel for you

Your dad sat on an upside-down bucket in the garage watching westerns
With the sound turned down, a cold beer in his left hand
Your mother called him in for dinner, then ate alone
No one asks where you're going or asks how you've been
And you're covered in tattoos, just under the skin
But you're wearing those long sleeves, so nobody knows

I bet the road heading south is somebody's north
Just like somebody's darkness is somebody's torch

Yeah, you can't get out the same way you came in
Still think like a kid when everything changes
Those walls could've caved in any second and blacked out the blue
And I wanted to save you but I just did nothing
Prayed the shape of the end takes the afternoon sun in
I don't know how it works or how God picks who gets to get through
It just seems like a lot of life's been mostly the tunnel for you

There's a light at the end, a light at the end, keep on running
There's a light at the end, I promise, my friend, it's coming
There's a light at the end, a light at the end