We rode bikes past that house on the day that she died
And there wasn't a sound or a chill in the air
We only later heard news of what had happened inside
When her body gave out at the foot of the stairs
If there was something underground
Just screaming to be let out
We didn't notice it until
It left its tracks through our town
And in the bloody aftermath
We stood looking around
And wondering where we had been
Looking before the day when
Somebody could have saved you if you had only spoken out
And no, I could never blame you-- I only wish you had now
When they breathed into your body, it was already too late
And you'd only just had that one look at a world of hate
We threw rocks at that house for the next fifty years
And no figure appeared in the attic window
We skipped cla** and we drank stolen bottles of beer
In the back of your car on the way to the show
And we grew up and we moved out
Every year in small ways
Past the Jesus billboards and
Beyond the forgotten graves
Of Sylvia and all the rest
I don't remember their names
But I'm afraid that underground
Their flesh decayed the same way
Somebody could have saved you if you had only spoken out
And no, I could never blame you-- I only wish you had now
When they breathed into your body, it was already too late
And you'd only just had that one look at a world of hate
And when it happens, it is never quite clear
How this could happen, but it does every year
I'll sleep through the same life
That was taken from you
Though it doesn't seem right
But what more could I do?
Somebody could have saved you if you had only spoken out
And no, I could never blame you-- I'm just thinking out loud
When they breathed into your body, it was already too late
And you'd only just had that one look at a world of hate