River Runs Through the House (Version 2)

Verse

Fifty years of paint on this front door screen

Dad's truck keys stuck in the porch rail chain

Every window's got a name etched slow

Mama's rocking chair still holds our names

The well is cracked, but water still runs clear

Same creek bed where I learned to swim

Grandma's apron hung from that same oak beam

Every summer we never wanted to leave

Pre-Chorus

So what if the porch creaks when it rains

What if this old wood holds more than frames

It's not just a house, it's a hundred summers

Standing still where the river runs through it

Chorus

The river runs through the house we built

Every current carries every name

We left but the river stays behind us

Carrying on till the water knows our names

Verse 2

Porch light out, the engine's warm now

Empty chairs where family used to be

I keep the screen door open by habit

Hear it whisper stories we never freed

Mama's recipe on a tattered index card

Folded up in the drawer since '75

Grandpa's guitar hung on that same nail

Still hums quiet when nobody's near

Pre-Chorus

So what if the porch creaks when it rains

What if this old wood holds more than frames

It's not just a house, it's a hundred summers

Standing still where the river runs through it

Chorus

The river runs through the house we built

Every current carries every name

We left but the river stays behind us

Carrying on till the water knows our names

Bridge

Some days I come back when the wildflowers bloom

Just to listen if there's still a voice in the room

Maybe I'm just the echo they couldn't keep

But this porch, it keeps me like a river should

Every summer someone new will swim these waters

Make their own memories on this same old ground

I'll stay far enough not to drown them with my memories

Chorus

The river runs through the house we built

Every current carries every name

We left but the river stays behind us

Carrying on till the water knows our names