The story behind this song
Seven a.m. doesn't know what to do with you anymore, and neither do your shoes. The route is still memorized — past the hydrant he claimed as his, around the oak where he always slowed to read the bark like the morning news, down the long stretch by the chain-link where he pulled like a train. You still walk it, a little faster now, hands in your pockets.
The red leash hangs by the door, right where it was the day you first clipped him in. You can't take it down, can't take it with you. For the one walking the loop alone — because that's still the only prayer you know.
Lyrics
Neither do my shoes
Around the oak where you always slowed
You'd read that bark like the morning news
While I stood there pretending I picked the route
The long stretch down by the chain-link fence
Where you pulled like a train with somewhere to go
Every square of sidewalk knows
Red as the day I clipped you in
I can't take it down, can't take it with me
So it stays right there, like you might need it
The hardest thing in this whole house
Is six feet of nylon, and missing you, old friend
The collie on Fifth still waits at the gate
I do the loop a little faster now
There's no one stopping to sniff the world
And the smell of cut grass on a Tuesday morning
Hits me like a name I can't say straight
That's the only prayer I know
Red as the day I clipped you in
I can't take it down, can't take it with me
So it stays right there, like you might need it
The hardest thing in this whole house
Is six feet of nylon, and missing you, old friend
Some clumsy pup will pull me off the path
And I'll teach her the route you taught to me —
Slow at the oak. Patient at the gate.
You'd want the leash to learn a new weight
Red as the day I clipped you in
I walk our miles with my hands in my pockets
Tell you the gossip, like you're still flopped at the closet
The bravest thing in this whole house
Is walking out that door — and I do it for you, old friend
Every morning
Still ours
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