The Gate Latch Remembers My Hand

Lyrics

Twenty winters since I walked this lane
The hedges grown, the paint gone pale
But the gate latch lifts the way it always did
And my hand knows the story, though I'd failed to tell

There's a light behind the kitchen blind
A shadow crossing, slow and sure
I rehearsed a hundred opening lines
And now I cannot find one anymore

One step, two steps up the garden path
The years fold small beneath my feet

The gate latch remembers my hand
Though I forgot so much of who I was
You open up the door, and the evening understands
Nothing here was lost, it only paused
The gate latch remembers my hand
And you remember me

You say my name the way you used to say it
Half a question, half a song
We stand there like two clocks that stopped together
And started up again, not very wrong

Come in, come in, the kettle's on
The chair you liked is by the fire
Tell me all of it, the roads, the rain
We have the whole night to retire

The gate latch remembers my hand
Though I forgot so much of who I was
You open up the door, and the evening understands
Nothing here was lost, it only paused
The gate latch remembers my hand
And you remember me

And you remember me