When The Truth Comes Home

“When the Truth Comes Home”

Nineteen ninety-six, a small-town Wednesday night,

A girl disappeared and nothing felt right.

Her car was gone, the questions stayed,

And a young man’s life was changed that day.

They put a number on his prison door,

Said he’d never see his hometown anymore.

No body found, but a jury said,

“Life without parole”—and they closed the book instead.

But thirty years is a long damn time

To carry something you swear ain’t mine.

So let the truth come rolling down

Like thunder over this old town.

Let every lie and every shadow

Finally see the light.

I’ve lost more years than I can count,

But there’s one thing they can’t lock down.

You can take my freedom,

But you can’t take my hope.

I’m still waiting on the day

When the truth comes home.

There were names in the story nobody heard,

Pieces of evidence, unfinished words.

A shirt underneath an old barn floor,

Five dogs saying there was something more.

Then a man came forward with a story to tell,

About a car and a secret he couldn’t keep to himself.

And somewhere beneath all the years gone by,

Maybe there’s an answer to the question, “Why?”

I’ve watched the seasons through a prison window,

But I never let my heart let go.

So let the truth come rolling down

Like thunder over this old town.

Let every lie and every shadow

Finally see the light.

I’ve lost more years than I can count,

But there’s one thing they can’t lock down.

You can take my freedom,

But you can’t take my hope.

I’m still waiting on the day

When the truth comes home.

I could’ve let these walls turn me bitter,

Could’ve let the years make me cold.

But I kept believing there was something bigger

Than the story I was told.

And for everybody standing with me,

When I couldn’t stand alone,

I’ll carry your faith with me

Till I’m finally walking home.

Thirty years…

Thirty years is a long road.

But I’m still here.

And I’m still holding on.

So let the truth come rolling down

Like rain on this old hometown.

Let Carrie’s story finally find

The answers it’s been owed.

I’ve lost more years than I can count,

But I never let my hope run out.

You can take my freedom,

You can lock me away,

But you can’t keep the truth

From finding me someday.

And when those prison doors finally open,

I’ll stand underneath that sky,

With thirty years behind me

And the truth on my side.

I won’t come home angry,

I won’t come home broken.

I’ll just look toward the road

And remember what I always said:

“I knew someday

The truth would come home.”

Yeah…

The truth would come home.