My Name

I carve the letters in the porch rail wood
I stand right where my father stood
The rain keeps falling on the rusted screen
I wash my face until the bone is clean

There is a shadow that you cannot sell
A secret broken in the wishing well
You hold the matches and I hold the floor
We do not knock upon the open door

My name is written where the river dries
My name is heavy in my brother's eyes
You try to buy what you can never tame
I strip the wire and I keep my name

I watch the sirens light the gravel road
I drop the pride but I preserve the load
A winter garden that will never grow
Is everything a guilty kid can know

My name is written where the river dries
My name is heavy in my brother's eyes
You try to buy what you can never tame
I strip the wire and I keep my name

Take the jacket, take the gray machine
Take the places where we could have been
Nothing answers when the engine cries
Nothing softens when the summer dies

My name is written where the river dries
My name is heavy in my brother's eyes
You try to buy what you can never tame
I strip the wire and I keep my name

I keep my name
Right where the river dries
I keep my name