Deathbed

I can smell the death on the sheets

Covering me

I can't believe this is the end

But this is my deathbed

I lie here alone

If I close my eyes tonight

I know I'll be home

The year is 1941

I was eight years old and far, far too young

To know that the stories of battles and glory

Was a tale a kind mother made up for a son

You see, dad was a traveling preacher

Teaching the words of the teacher

Mother had sworn he went off to the war

And died there with honor, somewhere on a beach there

But he left once to never return

Which taught me that I should unlearn

Whatever I thought a father should be

I abandoned that thought like he abandoned me

By '47, I was fourteen

I'd acquired a taste for liquor and nicotine

I smoked until I threw up, yet I still lit 'em up

For thirty more years, like a machine

So right there you have it

That one filthy habit

Is what got me where I am today

I can smell the death on the sheets

Covering me

I can't believe this is the end

I can hear the sad memories

Still haunting me

So many things I'd do again

But this is my deathbed

I lie here alone

If I close my eyes tonight

I know I'll be home

Got married on my twenty-first

Eight months before my wife would give birth

It's easier to be sure you love someone

When a father inquires with the barrel of a gun

The union was far from harmonious

No two people could've been more alone than us

The years would go by and she'd love someone else

And I'd realized I hadn't been loved yet myself

From there it's your typical spiel

Yeah, if life was a highway, I was drunk at the wheel

I was helpin' the loose ends all fall apart

Yeah, I swear I was destined to fail, and fail from the start

I bowled about six times a week

A bottle of beam kept the memories from me

Our marriage had taken a 7-10 split

And along with my pride, the ex-wife took the kids

I can smell the death on the sheets

Covering me

I can't believe this is the end

I can hear those sad memories

Still haunting me

So many things I'd do again

But this is my deathbed

I lie here alone

If I close my eyes tonight

I know I'll be home

I was so scared of Jesus but he sought me out

Like the cancer in my lungs it's killing me now

And I've given up hope on the days I have left

But I cling to the hope of my life in the next

Then Jesus showed up, said, "before we go

I thought that we might reminisce

See, one night in your life, when you turned out the lights

You asked for and prayed for my forgiveness

"You cried wolf; the tears they soaked your fur

The blood dripped from your fangs

You said, "What have I done?"

You loved that lamb with every sinful bone

And there you wept alone

Your heart was so contrite

"You said, 'Jesus, please forgive me of my crimes

Sanctify this withered heart of mine

Stay with me until my life is through

And on that day, please take me home with you"

I can smell the death on the sheets

Covering me

I can't believe this is the end

I can hear you whisper to me

"It's time to leave

You'll never be lonely again"

But this was my deathbed

I died there alone

When I closed my eyes tonight

You carried me home

I am the way

Follow me and take my hand

And I am the truth

Embrace me and you'll understand

And I am the light?

And for me you'll live again

For I am love

I am love

I am love