Ghosts Don’t Age

Verse 1 Rocking chair on a splintered porch, Sun goes down like a dying torch, Earl Perkins with a far-off stare, Talking to someone who ain’t there. Boot heels echo in his mind, Mud and smoke he left behind, Cannons roar in a summer field, Young men break where they won’t heal. Pre-Chorus He drifts away, then snaps back fast, Like the war still ain’t quite past. Chorus Oh Earl Perkins, caught between Faded flags and fields of green, Memory cracks like rifle fire, Ash and blood in the funeral pyre. His mind may wander, slip and bend, But he’ll die before his family does again. Verse 2 Sometimes he calls his children “sir,” Sometimes he salutes the wind that stirs, Mistakes the barn for a battle line, Thinks supper bells are a warning sign. Hands still shake but they’re steady too, When talk turns mean or threats come through, Old eyes sharpen, cloudy then clear, Like a soldier still standing here. Pre-Chorus Names fall loose like autumn leaves, But duty’s something he still believes. Chorus Oh Earl Perkins, weathered bone, Half in flesh, half long gone, He forgets the day, the date, the year, But not the cost of losing dear. His mind may fray like worn-out thread, But he guards his kin till he’s stone-cold dead. Bridge (low, haunting) At night he marches in his sleep, Through rows of ghosts he couldn’t keep, Whispers “Hold the line, hold fast,” To boys forever in the past. He wakes with tears he won’t explain, Calls out orders in the rain, Then softens when he hears a child, And smiles — gentle, worn and mild. Final Chorus (strong, trembling) Oh Earl Perkins, cracked but true, Storm-worn heart that still beats through, The war took pieces of his mind, But left his will carved deep inside. He may not know the man he’s been, But he knows he’ll fight for his kin. Outro (soft, fading) And when his chair rocks one last time, And silence claims the battle line, The wind will whisper low and grim: “He lost his mind… but never them.”