Every Mile Back to You

I used to do the math at midnight Your morning, my night Eleven hours and an ocean between us I numbered every letter so you'd know if one went missing You numbered yours right back — we never lost a one You'd seal them with the perfume from your wrist And half a world away, I'd breathe it like oxygen Anniversaries came while I was gone You'd set two plates anyway. You told me later on. They measure deployments in months and miles I measured mine in you Every mile back to you, my love That's the only map I ever knew Duffel on the tarmac, your dress in the crowd Eleven months collapsing in the space of one shout The distance threw its punches — we never let it through I'd cross the whole world over, every mile back to you You ran the house, the bills, the broken water heater Sent photos so I wouldn't miss the kids growing tall You never let me hear you crying on the phone line I knew anyway. You knew I knew. We carried it all. And the runway — God, the runway — Your shoes in one hand, running flat-out down the chain-link fence line They pin the medals on the ones who go The bravest one I know stayed home Every mile back to you, my love That's the only map I ever knew Duffel on the tarmac, your dress in the crowd Eleven months collapsing in the space of one shout The distance threw its punches — we never let it through I'd cross the whole world over, every mile back to you Now the boots are in the closet And the calendar is just a calendar again But every year when our day comes around I still feel it in my chest — that engine-roar descent, The wheels touching down, and you, and you Every mile back to you, my love Every ocean, every orders-came-through The duffel's down for good now, but hear me when I say If they posted me to the moon tonight, I'd be walking home by May The distance never won — it never had a clue It was always, only, ever — every mile back to you Home is not a country It never was It's wherever you're standing when I land