Jeffrey Lesser - To Build a Home lyrics

[FRANCESCA] There's a boat that leaves from Napoli Every Thursday in the morning And a nervous bride can share a bed With her soldier from the States For a week, the ocean carries them Over lost and churning water And they land in New York Harbor Then to Pennsylvania Station Where they board a train That slices like a scythe Through the fields of America This is Albany This is Buffalo This is Cleveland This is South bend This is Chicago This is Osceola Station Where a truck will take them Deeper into Iowa To Winterset And three hundred Acres Waiting to be tamed And blade of gra** by blade of gra** And ear of corn by ear of corn And bale of Hay by day by day They build themselves a home And day by day and year by year From boy to man, from calf to steer What's lost from there may not grow here But comes the sun Look what they've done: They've built themselves a home [Years begin pa**ing, from 1948 to 1950 to 1951. If this were a realistic set, a farmhouse would appear.] At twenty-one, a girl begins To grasp the world and how it spins She grabs a box of safety pins And builds herself a home And home is safe, and home is fair The porch, the bath, the kitchen chair The sharp and unfamiliar air That blow by blow She comes to know To build herself a home [It is now 1965. Her husband BUD, 45, her son MICHAEL, 16, and her daughter CAROLYN, 14, come onstage. FRANCESCA is 38 now.] With a son And a daughter And a million miles between The fires she used to set The hearts she used to break The lies she used to tell And the woman she grew up To be [COMPANY] Aaah… Aaah… Aaah… Aaah… Aaah… Aaah… [FRANCESCA] I learn to speak, I learn to sew I learn to let the longing go The tractor wheel, a foot of snow I build myself a home I change my words, I change my name The fields go dry, the horse goes lame The county fair, the football game For eighteen years It stays the same For eighteen years I'm proud I came And built myself a home [COMPANY] Aaah… Aaah… Aaah!