Before the Last Light's Gone

Verse 1

He had three small hands

Wrapped round his own

Sticky-fingered laughter

Pacing the hall at home

He kept their shoes by the door

Their drawings on the wall

He loved them all, he loved them all

The father's love won't ever fall

Chorus

Come home, come home

While the door still knows your name

Come home, come home

Before the cold years change

I still reach for you

I still call you son

Come home, come home

Before the last light's gone

Verse 2

The youngest stayed sweet

The middle one wild

But the firstborn grew sharp

With a grown-up mouth and pride

He rolled his eyes at supper

He bit through every word

And his father kept on smiling

Like he hadn't been hurt

Pre-Chorus

He said, "I see you, son

I still see the boy"

But the boy turned cold

And made silence his choice

Chorus

Come home, come home

While the door still knows your name

Come home, come home

Before the cold years change

I still reach for you

I still call you son

Come home, come home

Before the last light's gone

Verse 3

Then cruel words came easy

Like stones through glass

They cut where love was standing

And nothing took them back

The phone would ring in the dark

The house stayed still and bare

His father kept on calling

But he left him hanging there

Bridge

Years went by like weather

Names turned thin with time

The other two would ask about him

He'd only shake his mind

Then one day came the message

Soft and hard to hold

His father's body failing

His breath running low

Verse 4

He ran through the clinic hall

With tears in his eyes

And every locked-up memory

Came crashing open wide

At the bed he found his father

Small beneath the sheets

Still trying to smile at him

Still reaching for his cheek

Chorus

Come home, come home

While the door still knows your name

Come home, come home

Before the cold years change

I still reach for you

I still call you son

Come home, come home

Before the last light's gone

Outro

He held his father's hand

Too late, but not too late

And all the words he swallowed

Fell broken at the gate

"Don't go," he finally whispered

But the room stayed hushed and dim

His dad had loved him first

And never let that dim