Track 2 of the album The Long Way Home · 2013
Chalk Dust on My Sleeves
“My last afternoon in the classroom, wiping the board for good. I couldn't get through the second verse in the first take.”
acoustic · school-days folk · warm acoustic · 3:48
Lyrics
I wiped the board for the very last time The classroom hummed with afternoon The children's drawings on the wall Will fade by the end of June I packed a box of pencil stubs A stapler and a mug A card that says I'll be missed Signed with a crayon hug There's chalk dust on my sleeves And a lifetime in my hands Every face I ever taught Is a thread in who I am I'll walk out through the gate Into a softer kind of light With chalk dust on my sleeves And a heart that's feeling right Someday a stranger in a shop Will say, you taught me, sir I'll smile and not remember much But I'll know that it occurred Now there's time for books unread And the slow roads I once missed For the tea gone cold in the morning light And the quiet I've been gifted There's chalk dust on my sleeves And a lifetime in my hands Every face I ever taught Is a thread in who I am I'll walk out through the gate Into a softer kind of light With chalk dust on my sleeves And a heart that's feeling right Close the door, the bell rings clear Another year begins somewhere Chalk dust on my sleeves