A Town Full of Memories

I'm not going to drive through this town again.

I'm not going to go past the building

With the one light out

Near where the 24-hour supermarket used to be

That isn't twenty-four hours anymore

Where I used to buy groceries

Late night

Just because I liked

Living in a town with a 24-hour supermarket

I'm not going to drive up the highway

Get off on the main road

Where the cops always hide out

To pull over anybody out past nine

Because my windshield is cracked

And my inspection sticker's expired

I'm not going to drive past where she lived

That friend who moved to Miami

And remember the Saturday nights

Spent at her house

With the Christmas lights

Left up all year long

I'm not going to drive past Donnie's

Where we fell on his lawn

And stared up at the sky

Guessing at stars' names

Playing who would wind up where

Never thinking Donnie would wind up

Underneath us

In just a few years

I'm not going to drive past my Ma's

Knowing strangers live there now

Inhabiting my memories

That's where I live now

I live in a town full of memories

This town is a car

And the future's its gas

It's running on empty

It's time to get out

Leave the town to the kids

Who still have memories to discover

Hidden under the rocks we put down

Thinking we'd be back

To uncover them

I can't drive anymore

I can't drive around in circles

Pretending I'm going somewhere

I need to go out

Out past the horizon

Into the deep

Sleeping away my life

Needs to stop

I can't drive into a town full of memories

And tell myself I can live with just that

With faint traces of happy spaces

Gracing the dark

I can't drive

I can't die

I can't live

I can't live here anymore

There's no life left here

Not in a town full of memories