Diamonds To Coal - Jim White

It’s the twilight hour

As the sun goes down

I see a flatbed Ford with a scrapyard load

Rattle off through town

The railroad crossing lights flash on

There ain’t no train in sight

A crescent moon will soon ascend

As day gives way to night

And I feel home

And I think how far away

I got from home

Back in the bad old days

But I’m done turning diamonds to coal

Now just before dinner time

This old drunk comes knocking on my door

Say he’s looking for some girl who lived here

Twenty-seven years ago

The radio in the kitchen is playing

'Papa Was A Rolling Stone'

And as he strolls away into the night

And the streetlights flicker on

I get to thinking about home

And how sometimes there come a day

When I try to get back home

But all you can do is run away

But I’m done turning diamonds to coal

In love we find out who we are

In sorrow we abide

Our strength’s revealed by what we build

From the broken things inside

But a day will come when you will know

Which way you must choose to go

To travel on and live alone

Or turn yourself around and try to get back home

Try to get back home

And now way up high two jet planes

Weave spider webs across the sky

As that flatbed Ford has dropped his load

Now there he goes swinging by

And the silence gathering 'round this house

Makes such a lovely sound

That I know for sure that I am cured

From turning diamonds, from turning diamonds to coal

'Cause I feel home and I’m done turning diamonds to coal

Yes, I’m done turning diamonds to coal

Yes, I’m done turning diamonds to coal

Yes, I’m done turning diamonds to coal

Yes, I’m done turning diamonds to coal