Spare Key Under the Flowerpot

Lyrics

Drove nine hours with the radio low
Past the water tower and the feed store sign
Mama's porch light was burning slow
Like she knew I'd come back around this time
The screen door sticks like it always did
And the swing still hangs from the same bent nail

There's a spare key under the flowerpot
Same as when I was seventeen
She never said that she'd forgotten
All the things I did and the places I'd been
Some folks lock the door and throw away the key
But she left it there for me
A spare key under the flowerpot
And a love that never learned to leave

Kitchen smells like cornbread and coffee
Table's set for one more than she'll admit
There's a quilt on the bed I left unmade
And a note that says "I kept your seat"
I never called when the money ran dry
I never wrote when the lonesome came

There's a spare key under the flowerpot
Same as when I was seventeen
She never said that she'd forgotten
All the things I did and the places I'd been
Some folks lock the door and throw away the key
But she left it there for me
A spare key under the flowerpot
And a love that never learned to leave

Pride is a heavy thing to carry
Down a long and dusty road
But grace is a light left burning
In a window, years on years, years on years

Morning comes with a mockingbird song
And she hums along with the kettle's cry
We don't talk about where I've been wrong
We just sit there while the sun climbs high

There's a spare key under the flowerpot
Same as when I was seventeen
She never said that she'd forgotten
All the things I did and the places I'd been
Some folks lock the door and throw away the key
But she left it there for me
A spare key under the flowerpot
And a love that never learned to leave

A love that never learned to leave