Hello Captain

Intro Verse 1 She buttered the toaster on a Sunday afternoon She called the dog by the cat's name, who had died in 2009 She greeted the mailman with a salute and hello, Captain He had stopped correcting her, he saluted her right back again Verse 2 She told the priest a wedding-night joke for the fifty-second time He laughed so hard he spilled his tea on the burgundy and navy line Of the Persian rug she had bought when her late husband was alive She laughed loudest, and her eyes went bright, and the room felt suddenly bright Pre-Chorus Captain Doctor Mr. Henderson Every wrong name Was a real name Chorus She was not losing names, she was returning them One by one on her slow way out the door Captain was her husband, Doctor was her father Mr. Henderson lived next door for thirty-one years before Forgetting is sometimes the slow work Of remembering everyone you have loved She was carrying every single one of them with her On the long way home above Verse 3 On a Sunday in February she opened the front door for tea She looked at her eleven-year-old grandson, and she said, David, you came David was his father, David had died when the boy was four The boy stepped in, hung up his coat on the empty fourth hook by the door Chorus She was not losing names, she was returning them One by one on her slow way out the door Captain was her husband, Doctor was her father Mr. Henderson lived next door for thirty-one years before Bridge He hung his blue winter coat on the hook his father had used For twenty-eight Sundays of a life he could not refuse He said, in the gentlest voice he had ever used to anyone in his life Hi mom, I came, in the cold soft hallway of late February light Every Sunday after that he became David for an afternoon He had two birthdays now and he had two names and one whole moon And the locket at her collarbone opened once to show the photo inside And the smile of the woman who would not let her loved ones die Final Chorus She was not losing names, she was returning them One by one on her slow way out the door The brave thing is to answer when called Even by a name you never owned before Hello Captain, the boy said in March And the kettle whistled on the trivet She smiled at him as if he were a man she had loved very much And she was bringing every single one of them with her on the way out Outro Hello Captain Hello Captain She was bringing every single one of them On the way out the door