The Door Stays Closed

They gave me a rifle at eighteen years old,

Told me I'd be somebody,

told me to be bold.

I stood on the line when the world came apart,

Carried my brothers, and I carried their hearts.

Ten years in uniform,

boots in the mud,

Signed my life over in ink and in blood.

Then a handshake, a form,

and a bus to the gate,

"Thank you for serving,

now you're on your own,

son."

No one teaches you how to come down,

How to be quiet in a loud town.

I'm still standing at the door,

The one I fought to keep you free.

I gave you all I had to give,

Now there's nothing here for me.

You said you'd never let me fall,

But look how far I've fallen.

I'm still standing at the door,

And the door stays closed.

Applied for a hundred jobs,

got a hundred replies: "Great skills,

no experience," and a polite goodbye.

Nobody needs a man who can lead twenty men Through fire and

fear,

now he can't find work again.

The nightmares came calling,

the sleep wouldn't stay,

The rent hit the floor and the savings gave way.

The forms said "please wait",

the wait became years,

And the bottle was kinder than the sound of my fears.

No one teaches you how to come down,

How to be quiet in a loud town.

I'm still standing at the door,

The one I fought to keep you free.

I gave you all I had to give,

Now there's nothing here for me.

You said you'd never let me fall,

But look how far I've fallen.

I'm still standing at the door,

And the door stays closed.

Now I sleep in a doorway,

coat that I wore

On a parade in the sunshine,

a lifetime before. People walk past me,

they look at the ground,

They don't see the medals,

they don't hear the sound Of a boy who once saved a

stranger's life Who now can't be saved in the cold of the

night. There's thousands like me in every land,

Just numbers on paper,

no outstretched hand.

We marched for you.

We bled for you.

We came home, and nobody was waiting.

Some of us found help,

and thank God for that,

But some of us fell through the cracks where we sat.

So if you see a soldier with nowhere to go,

Don't look away.

Stop.

Say hello.

I'm still standing at the door,

The one I fought to keep you free.

I gave you all I had to give,

Won't someone answer me?

You said you'd never let us fall,

So hold the line for one more day.

I'm still standing at the door,

Won't you open it today.

Lest we forget

the ones who came back.

Lest we

forget.