When they ask me whether you mean more to me
Than moving pictures on a T.V. Screen
Am I supposed to say
That I was young when you left and you don’t keep in touch these days,
Or that the bottle had its say and took you away?

I wonder if you know your family misses you so
The hardest lessons learned
No matter where you go, no matter where you go
Are the ones you learn alone

And last time I saw you,
There was a stranger in the skin of someone I once knew,
Someone that I thought was stronger than addiction and decay.
You are the one who got away,
And now we’re forced to stand by helpless
And watch you sinking like your coast in the pacific waves.

And I would call even though you won’t pick up
To hear your voice like a ghost on the machine,
“This is the home of someone you do not know,
A past life you never wanted to leave.”

I wonder if you know your family misses you so
The hardest lessons learned
No matter where you go, no matter where you go
Are the ones you learn alone

I wonder if you know

It’s like the time that I burnt my hands on Pop’s lit cigarette.
You held me in your arms and said that the pain was something I’d forget.
Now that you’re running away from the bed you made yourself I wonder
If there is something I could say to take your pain away.

And I wonder if you know your family misses you so
The hardest lessons learned
No matter where you go, no matter where you go
Are the ones you learn alone.