Kou Hoa & Renten

The Road I Carry Home

Kou Hoa & Renten

[Verse 1]

I was born with a road in my pocket,

And a question under my tongue,

With a window turned toward the distance,

And a heart that was always young.

But I learned how to measure the daylight,

How to finish what had to be done,

How to build me a house out of duty

While I dreamed of following the sun.

[Pre-Chorus]

There was always another horizon,

Always somewhere I wanted to know,

But the roots grew deep beneath me

Even while I was longing to go.

[Chorus]

So I carry the road home with me,

I carry the sky in my hands.

I don't have to choose between wandering

And knowing exactly where I stand.

There are doors in every shelter,

There are roots beneath the sea—

And the farther I travel into this life,

The more I come home to me.

[Verse 2]

I have walked with a careful devotion,

Put the pieces where they belong,

Found a thousand ways to be useful,

Learned to carry the weak and the strong.

There's a part of me counting the footsteps,

There's a part that would throw out the map,

One says, “Make yourself ready for morning,”

One says, “Look where the stars are at.”

[Pre-Chorus]

Maybe freedom was never disorder,

Maybe structure was never a chain,

Maybe somewhere between them

Is the road I was trying to name.

[Chorus]

So I carry the road home with me,

I carry the sky in my hands.

I don't have to choose between wandering

And knowing exactly where I stand.

There are doors in every shelter,

There are roots beneath the sea—

And the farther I travel into this life,

The more I come home to me.

[Verse 3]

There are waters that run underneath me,

Things I know though nobody speaks,

I have learned that a quiet conversation

Can uncover what a lifetime seeks.

I can sit with the questions of strangers,

Hear the story behind what they say,

And perhaps leave a lantern beside them

So they find their own road away.

[Chorus ]

We all carry a road home within us,

We all carry a sky of our own.

And sometimes another can show us

The place we have somehow forgotten we know.

Not to tell us which way we should travel,

Not to tell us who we should be—

Just to hold up a light for a moment

Till our own eyes begin to see.

[Verse 4]

I have wrestled with staying and moving,

With the body, the spirit, the mind,

With a fire that wanted tomorrow

And a voice saying, “Leave nothing behind.”

But the years have been patient teachers,

And the lesson grows simpler somehow:

I don't have to earn my becoming.

I am already becoming it now.

[Bridge]

Let the old walls open like windows.

Let the unanswered questions remain.

Let the heart have a little more freedom,

Let the earth hold the weight of the day.

There is time for making the lists,

There is time for losing the way,

There is time for sitting in silence

And watching the afternoon fade.

And if somebody asks me for wisdom,

I won't tell them which road to choose.

I'll ask what makes their spirit grow larger,

And what they're afraid they might lose.

[Final Chorus]

I carry the road home with me,

I carry the sky in my hands.

I have learned I can wander much farther

When I know where my own center stands.

There are doors in every shelter,

There are roots beneath the sea—

And the farther I travel into this life,

The more I come home to me.

[Outro]

So here's to the road still unfolding,

And the rooms I have yet to explore,

To the life that grows wider with living,

And the heart that keeps opening doors.

I was born with a road in my pocket,

And a question under my tongue.

And after all these miles of becoming—

I am still becoming young.