My name is Raymond but I go by Russ
Truth is, I don’t remember too much
Did a six month stint in Kandahar
‘til a bullet shattered my left arm
And they packed me up and shipped me home

My high school sweetheart spent a year by my side
Just waiting patient for the bones to heal up right
But the wires crossed inside my head
Were a circuit that she couldn’t mend
So she packed up and headed home

It’s ringing in my ears as her words hang in space
You’re still alive by God’s good grace
But I’m back bleeding in the sand
every time I close my eyes
Living in this soldier’s lullaby

The VA doctor said I’m fixed good as new
Looking at an x-ray, just his version of the truth
But the Percocet he gave away
Sweet capsules made of pure escape
They wrap me up, bring me home

It’s ringing in my ears as his words hang in space
You’re still alive by God’s good grace
But I’m back bleeding in the sand
every time I close my eyes
Living in this soldier’s lullaby

The pharmacy cut me off as winter turned spring
I found a friend who said that he could keep the angels singing
A simple prick and I could fly
Beyond these fractures in my mind
Lift me up, send me home

It’s ringing in my ears as I'm floating in space
You’re still alive by God’s good grace
But I’m back bleeding in the sand
every time I close my eyes
Living in this soldier’s lullaby

Sometimes I wonder if you’d love me better dead
Fallen in a combat zone, ‘stead of left out here to beg
I’d be draped beneath your sacred flag
Not frozen in my sleeping bag
Wrap me up, send me home