Thirty years I knew each pothole by heart
Meter clicked steady from the very start
Rain on the windshield wrote its own map
Night shift coffee kept the exhaustion trapped
Now the porch chair rocks where the kettle sings
Rocking chair drifts through the kitchen floor
Linoleum wears like the streets I wore
Kettle whistles low like a dispatch call
Morning light stretches across the wall
Porch remembers what the taxi forgot
Fare box jingled with the city's loose change
Dispatch voices rearranged and strange
Vinyl seats held a thousand goodbyes
Odometer spun where the horizon lies
Now the rockers groove on worn pine boards
Rocking chair drifts through the kitchen floor
Linoleum wears like the streets I wore
Kettle whistles low like a dispatch call
Morning light stretches across the wall
Porch remembers what the taxi forgot
Passengers left their scent on the air
Perfume and whiskey and midnight despair
I drove them home through the sodium glow
Meter stopped ticking but the miles still grow
Chair keeps rocking on a different route
Weather don't ask before it turns cold
Long way round is the only road
Empty seat means the money don't show
But steam rises steady from the stove down low
Rocking finds rhythm the engine once knew
Chipped porcelain mug replaces the wheel
Curtains catch dust where the headlights would steal
No radio chatter, just floorboard groan
Kitchen tile cool against wood I've known
Porch chair travels where the tires won't go
Rocking chair drifts through the kitchen floor
Linoleum wears like the streets I wore
Kettle whistles low like a dispatch call
Morning light stretches across the wall
Porch remembers what the taxi forgot
Tip jar sits where the ashtray once breathed
Dreams cost nothing now that I've agreed
To let the chair wander where the porch ends
Kettle sings soft where the city transcends
Rocking steady on a domestic mile
Rocking chair drifts through the kitchen floor
Linoleum wears like the streets I wore
Kettle whistles low like a dispatch call
Morning light stretches across the wall
Porch remembers what the taxi forgot
Rocking chair drifts through the kitchen floor
Linoleum wears like the streets I wore
Kettle whistles low like a dispatch call
Morning light stretches across the wall
Porch remembers what the taxi forgot
Steam rises slow from the chipped blue mug
Wheels still turning on a wooden rug
