They Don’t Know My Name

They don’t know my name

Well the names on the gravestones are
the same as the names
Of  the characters in my family’s tales
And when I go to town, the faces look a lot like
The pictures Grandma sent us in the mail

But they don’t know my name, they don’t
recognize me
They think I talk like I’m from far away
And even though we called it that, it really
wasn’t home
But it haunts my dreams every single day

Well they sent me off to school when I was
very young
With people whose names sounded so strange
And the words that they used, for all kinds
of things
Were different, so I began to change. 

But they don’t know my name,
they don’t recognize me
They think I talk like I’m from far away
And even though we called it that,
it really wasn’t home
But it haunts my dreams every single day

These are the people my mama grew up with;
These are the people my daddy called friend.
But when they see me, they don’t recognize me.
Will they open their door? Will they welcome me in?

My parents tried to do things right,
to find a better life,
To keep us from falling in a trap,
But I don’t belong here, I don’t belong there
My heart is stretched so tight it just might snap 

But they don’t know my name, they don’t
recognize me
They think I talk like I’m from far away
And even though we called it that, it really wasn’t home
But it haunts my dreams every single day.

© 2016 Debbie Durant, Walnut Run Music, ASCAP