The Tunnel

Intro

Wait... this ain't the tunnel.

No light. No fire.

Just... chairs.

Plastic chairs.

And everybody I ever did wrong...

sittin' in 'em.

Lord... what is this?

Verse 1

Woke up dead, first thing I felt was cold

No gold at the gates, just "WAIT TO BE CALLED"

Fluorescent lights buzzin' like the block at three

Every face in this room got a memory of me

There go Ray — I took his life over a chain

Don't remember why, just remember the rain

Blood in the gutter, now he's three chairs down

We don't say a word, just stare at the ground

What words fix a hole in a man's chest?

What sorry brings the dead back from rest?

Receptionist turnin' pages, time don't move

Hell might be mercy when you got nothin' left to prove

Chorus

Heaven got a waitin' room

And everybody in it got a scar from you

Plastic chairs and fluorescent gloom

And you just wait, and wait, and wait

For your name to come through

Your name to come through

Verse 2

Now I see faces I ain't seen in decades

Mike from third grade — I still see the blade, kid

He forgave me in life, but here I feel the weight

God don't take fame, and He don't take plaques

Every growl that I gave, every promise I broke

Every mother at a grave, every word that I spoke

The Dog was off-leash, but the Dog couldn't save

Not one soul, not his own, not the ones that he raised

All that bark in the dark — it was pain in disguise

It was rage wearin' fur, it was hurt in his eyes

Now I'm holdin' one number with a tremblin' hand

Waitin' on the One who decides where I land

Chorus

Heaven got a waitin' room

And everybody in it got a scar from you

Plastic chairs and fluorescent gloom

And you just wait, and wait, and wait

For your name to come through

Your name to come through

Verse 3

Been waitin' so long, I stopped countin' the time

Stopped rehearsin' defenses, ran out of lines

Funny how a man full of growls goes mute

When the Judge already knows every frame of the truth

Then a warmth hit the room like the sun through a door

Every soul that I hurt wasn't staring anymore

They was waitin' with me — that's what this room is

The ones you break become the jury of forgiveness

So I stood and I bowed, let the tears finally run

'Cause a dog can be healed when the fightin' is done

Then the voice from the light called my name soft and low

Like I was somebody's brother... somebody's son.