Verse 1

No one knows just how you feel
You carry a wound that doesn’t heal

Sudden sounds still startle you, your instincts kick in strong
Though time has dulled the pain a bit, the scars are far from gone
Your constant pain is hidden from the people that you meet
And the twisted road from innocence is a one-way street

Verse 2

Sudden sounds still startle you, your instincts kick in strong
Though time has dulled the pain a bit, the scars are far from gone
Your constant pain is hidden from the people that you meet
And the twisted road from innocence is a one-way street

Verse 3

Your mind drifts back to open fields, where battle fires once raged
You were there when the cannons flared, that’s where you came of age
You knew that it was senseless then, but still you carried on
For God, and country, and your men, ‘til all your fire was gone

Chorus

Your constant pain is hidden from the people that you meet
And the twisted road from innocence is a one-way street

Verse 4

The first time you saw combat, you remember how you cried
“Oh my God, I hit someone,” and “Oh my God, he’s died”
The next time you saw battle, though, things had changed inside
“The stupid fool should not have run, he never should have tried”

Chorus

Verse 5

Sudden sounds still startle you, and ghosts invade your dreams
Fallen faces from the fray, both friend and foe it seems
Though memories, like the leaves of Fall, may scatter in the wind
Through all the seasons of your life, you’ve wished your war would end

Verse 6

It’s the same sun rising that rose the day before
But you are not the same man they sent away to war
You carry all the memories, you carry all the pain
Of the innocence that you’ve lost, and never could regain

Chorus