This Is Not the House That Pain Built - Dar Williams

My house is hard to find, but I’ll give you directions

You can visit sometime, down where all that I built surrounds me

Just make sure your car’s got good shocks

There’s steep hills, there’s potholes, there’s rocks

I work in the garden, my son plays around me

Close the gate behind you, there’s a horse that can’t get out

I will see you first, is that all right

And can you remember, can you remember

This is not the house that pain built

This is not the house that pain built

I was drowning in something, I jumped in the rift

And you knew me back then, when I spat on my gift, but no

It’s tough and it’s tiring when you go it alone

I learned about wiring, I learned about stone

The building is done but the work’s never through

And I won’t give up, no how, it reminds me of who I am and where I am now

I remember myself, that’s the work that I do

On a spring night when the snow is melting

You’ll see two sets of footprints walking

Look at all the stars, and turn around, and walk home

Slowly walk home

This is not the house that pain built

That is not a house that pain ubilt

My friends all think that I holed up and hid

But I tell them I didn’t, you know I don’t think I did, no

And this is where I let my pain go

This is where I let my pain go

This is where the footprints dance in the snow