Second Home: Tourbus

The road is black and shining, coffee’s getting cold. Somebody’s laughing softly over stories we’ve retold. A guitar sleeps by the window, a case is bruised and scarred. The city lights are passing like postcards in the dark. I’m tired in my bones, but the night is calling soon. There’s a stage somewhere ahead and a song beneath the moon. Second home, tourbus, rolling through the rain. Halfway to the spotlight, halfway back again. Second home, tourbus, where the quiet people stay. We carry all the thunder in a very human way. yeah... a very human way... The tech guy checks the cables, someone marks the setlist twice. The drummer taps the table, counting ghosts and paradise. The organizer’s smiling, though her phone won’t let her rest. The bass player hums a line with both hands on his chest. And I miss my own front door, miss the silence of my room. But these faces in the half-light keep me warmer than the gloom. Second home, tourbus, rolling through the rain. Halfway to the spotlight, halfway back again. Second home, tourbus, where the quiet people stay. We carry all the thunder in a very human way. There’s a tremble before evening, something I still never name. Not fear, not really hunger, just the old familiar flame. I’ve been called a kind of star, but stars don’t pack their shoes. They don’t sit beside a window wondering what they had to lose. Home is not a building when the night is moving fast. Sometimes home is someone asking, “Did you eat?” before the blast. Sometimes home is five tired people sharing silence, jokes and tea. Sometimes home is not the place where no one asks too much of me. Mhm... ahh... not too much... not tonight... Second home, tourbus, rolling through the rain. Halfway to the spotlight, halfway back again. Second home, tourbus, where the quiet people stay. We carry all the thunder in a very human way. Second home, tourbus, with the next town up ahead. I miss the life I came from, love the road I chose instead. Mhm... yeah... One more town. One more song. Then home... somewhere along the road.