The Man She Married

She said it soft at the kitchen sink with her back turned to me"You don't talk to me no more, you just sit there and watch TV"I wanted to tell her 'bout the rumors of more cuts down at the plantBut I just said, "I'm fine, babe," 'cause that's what a man says when he can't

She says I ain't the man she marriedAnd Lord, I guess she's rightHe's buried under fifteen years of bills and sleepless nightsBut he's still in here somewhere, behind these walls I built so highI just never learned to tell her what I'm carryin' inside

But she's been carryin' her own load, and I'd be lyin' if I saidI've been askin' how she's holdin' up instead of goin' straight to bedShe's workin' days down at the diner, raisin' three kids on the sideAnd I've been so lost in my own storm, I never saw her cry

Two people in the same bed, sleepin' miles apartBoth of us too proud to be the first to show our heart

She says I ain't the man she marriedAnd Lord, I guess she's rightHe's buried under fifteen years of bills and sleepless nightsBut he's still in here somewhere, behind these walls I built so highI just never learned to tell her what I'm carryin' inside

Drove out to the old white church one Wednesday afternoonSat in the pew where I said "I do" to her one long-gone JuneDidn't ask the Lord for answers, didn't ask Him for a signJust asked Him for the courage to let her in this time

So I came home and sat her down beneath the kitchen lightTold her 'bout the plant, the bank, the fear that kept me up at nightSaid, "I ain't been gone, I've been drownin', and too proud to let you see"She broke down cryin', said, "I thought you'd just stopped lovin' me"

Now she says I'm the man she marriedAnd I'm learnin' how to be'Cause the man she fell in love with wasn't made of stone, you seeHe was a man who talked to her, who held her when she criedLord, I'm tearin' down these walls, and I'm lettin' her inside

Still the man she marriedJust learnin' how to show it