My name is Matthew Shepard My country is the West My story is the story Of the worst that breaks the best There's a Rocky Mountain closet That no one wants undone I left and saw the world But I came back where I'd begun Cause it's a question of sitting down Getting closer to the ground And smoothing out the rough spots That'll bruise you where you're soft My name is Matthew Shepard My country is the West My story is the story There's many know the rest I was following a smile When it turned a darker road Leaving Laramie behind us And wouldn't let me go And the air was cold as murder The ground October-hard The blows rained down like hammers On my prayers for pa**ing cars My name is Matthew Shepard My country is the West My story is the story Of the worst that breaks the best Cardboard signs around my gravesite Saying God hates my kind Same voices I remember hearing On the night I died And then there's you who say you love the sinners You just hate the little things they do You should know that the hands that bound and beat me Grew up listening to you Yeah, my name is Matthew Shepard My country is the rest My story is the story Made Jesus bow his head When I told it to the shepherd When he took me to his breast