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."
Though the paths we choose are wrought with pain
And wind and bend, unpaved, can lead us all astray
No matter how we change
Connections sealed at birth with blood remain

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