Coffee in a foam cup
Gas station on the edge of town
Bug-splashed windshield
Sun just starting down
Kids’ drawings on the visor
Dog hair in the backseat
Everything I ever chose
Rattling along with me
Out here past mile marker 45
The past is riding shotgun
Feet up on the dash of my mind
I ain’t outrunning what I’ve done
But the sky keeps opening
Wide
In that tender
Fading light
Guess I’m learning how to drive
With both hands on tonight
Phone buzzes in the console
Her name lighting up blue
We said we’d talk when I’d cooled off
I’m still halfway through
Radio plays an old song
We used to hum in our first place
I roll the window halfway
Let the wind rewrite my face
Out here past mile marker 45
The past is riding shotgun
Feet up on the dash of my mind
I ain’t outrunning what I’ve done
But the sky keeps opening
Wide
In that tender
Fading light
Guess I’m learning how to drive
With both hands on tonight
Maybe the road don’t fix a thing
It just gives the hurt some room
To stretch its legs beside me
Till it walks instead of blooms
Headlights in the rearview fade
Like the voices in my head
I’m still that kid who dreamed too small
And the man who froze instead
Out here past mile marker 45
The past is riding shotgun
Feet up on the dash of my mind
I ain’t outrunning what I’ve done
But the sky keeps opening
Wide
In that tender
Fading light
I’m not asking for a sign
Just the courage to arrive
So I keep this old wheel tight
With both hands on tonight
