UNEXPECTED EXILE

Verse 3

They handed me a map with no roads on it

A suitcase that I never got to pack

Said the border closed at seven in the evening

And there was no coming back

I learned the language of the waiting room

The humming of the halogen above

I learned that home is not a place you lose

It's a person you still love

Pre-Chorus

And I don't blame the sky

For turning on me

I just stand here asking why

Nobody warned me

Chorus

I'm in exile, unexpected

No decree, no letter sent, no crime I can confess

I'm in exile, unprotected

Wearing someone else's winter, learning someone else's streets

And every night I call your name into the phone

And every night it rings and rings and you're not home

I'm in exile, unexpected

But I'm still me

Post-Chorus

Oh-oh, oh-oh

Still me

Oh-oh, oh-oh

Verse 4

I found a church that doesn't ask for papers

I found a bar that doesn't ask for names

I found that mercy comes in quiet favors

From strangers who have felt the same

My mother's voice is crackling through the wire

She says, "Baby, you were always meant to roam"

But meant and wanting are two different fires

And one of them burns slow

Pre-Chorus

I don't curse the tide

That pulled me under

I just sit here asking why

I had to wonder

Chorus

I'm in exile, unexpected

No decree, no letter sent, no crime I can confess

I'm in exile, unprotected

Wearing someone else's winter, learning someone else's streets

And every night I call your name into the phone

And every night it rings and rings and you're not home

I'm in exile, unexpected

But I'm still me

Post-Chorus

Oh-oh, oh-oh

Still me

Oh-oh, oh-oh

Still me

Bridge

Maybe someday I'll stop counting days

Maybe someday this will feel like ground

Maybe someday I'll forgive the way

They never even made a sound

(They never made a sound)

I will build a life from what they left me

(Never made a sound)

I will make a home inside my chest, see

Guitar Solo

Verse 5

So I paint the walls a color I remember

And I hum a tune my father used to hum

And I set a second plate in late December

For the version of me that didn't run

I am not a guest here, I'm a witness

To a life that stitches itself back

Every scar is just a map of where I've been

And I'm not going back, no, I'm not going back

Chorus

I'm in exile, unexpected

No decree, no letter sent, no crime I can confess

I'm in exile, unprotected

Wearing someone else's winter, learning someone else's streets

And every night I call your name into the phone

And every night it rings and rings and you're not home

I'm in exile, unexpected

But I'm still me

Outro

Still me

(Still me)

Oh-oh, oh-oh

Still me

(Still me)

Wherever the wind decides to throw me

Wherever the river runs

I'll carry what they couldn't take

And I'll be someone's home again someday

Oh-oh, oh-oh

Still me

End