Ron Capps

Lyrics

This Time

And you come home
With the smell of war still on your clothes
And the airport’s a freak show
And it’s hard to fake a smile

And you’re wearing your past
In the ribbons pinned on your chest
They can smell the future on your breath
It’s just a shot to calm your nerves.

And your little girl wants to know
When she sits down for suppertime
Is that the last time you’ll have to go
Daddy, did you win the war this time?

And you’re making a list
Of all the dinners that you’ve missed
And all the nights you should have kissed
The kids bad dreams away

And you tally the cost
Of a daughter’s soccer season lost
And the baseballs that won’t get tossed
And a wife who cries alone

And your little girl wants to know
When she sits down for suppertime
Is that the last time you’ll have to go
Daddy, did you win the war this time?

And you wake up
With the dead still hiding in your eyes
From the dreams that can’t be sanitized
You think you’ve come undone

And now and then
Someone asks you how you are, and when
you’re just too worn out to pretend.
You wish you were back there

And your little girl wants to know
When she sits down for suppertime
Is that the last time you’ll have to go?
Daddy did you win the war this time

But then your orders are in
And like that you’re heading back again
It’s a six month pump but you’ll extend
‘Cause that’s where you’re most at home

And your little girl wants to know
When she sits down for suppertime
Is this the last time you’ll have to go?
Daddy, will you win the war this time?