They say there’s no return

You can’t go home again

My haircut proved them wrong

The trimmings fall on local paper

A familiar front door

I was six when I first saw it

Said goodbye at twenty-nine

Dead people don’t need their houses

I used to think the place was haunted

Couldn’t have guessed I’d know the ghosts

 

Back when we lived, for all those years at 86

That new chapter that never quite turned the page

Back when we lived, for all those years at 86

Until the cracks could just not be contained

 

They called it a new start

Back when we were kids

Thought changing house might change each other

Pretend the marriage wasn’t over

A new address to mend old wounds

Barely speaking, seldom smiling

An elephant in every room

We were trained to just ignore them

Painting lipstick on a corpse

I used to blame the architecture

 

Back when we lived, for all those years at 86

That new chapter that never quite turned the page

Back when we lived, for all those years at 86

Until the cracks could just not be contained

 

Daddy not around

Cuz he’s fucking around

Mom buried in work

To avoid how much it hurt

They wouldn’t even fight

It was somehow worse

Living separate lives

Under the same roof

 

An appointment after work

Faking first time buyers

A long sleeve shirt to cover up

My new eighty-six tattoo

The one that matches with my sister’s

The one that brands us as survivors

They’d spent a lot to do it up

But 86, it still felt haunted

Plush new carpets aren’t enough

To mask those same old creaking floorboards

 

Back when we lived, for all those years at 86

That new chapter that never quite turned the page

Back when we lived, for all those years at 86

Until the cracks could just not be contained