The Cup Comes Back — A Song Inspired by Robert Burns Cup Returning to Scotland After More Than 100 Years in Australia

[Verse 1]
They packed me in newspaper, sail-salt, old names
A little silver weather with a borrowed flame
I heard the freight doors closing like a century cough
Somebody said forgotten and the ocean laughed it off

[Pre-Chorus]
I kept the fingerprints
I kept the bruise and shine
I kept a toast warm
On the wrong side of time

[Chorus]
The cup comes back, the cup comes back
Across the black water with a crack in its laugh
Raise it up slow, let the room go still
What leaves with a song comes home with a will
The cup comes back, the cup comes back
Small enough to hold, too old to unpack

[Verse 2]
I was passed through bright kitchens, sideboards, strange rain
Heard another hemisphere trying to say my name
Every hand that lifted me left a town in the metal
Every year went ringing like a spoon in a kettle

[Pre-Chorus]
Do not polish me clean
Do not smooth my road
The dents are the map
Of the distance I owed

[Chorus]
The cup comes back, the cup comes back
Across the black water with a crack in its laugh
Raise it up slow, let the room go still
What leaves with a song comes home with a will
The cup comes back, the cup comes back
Small enough to hold, too old to unpack

[Bridge]
I was not lost, I was learning the tide
How far a small thing can be carried and survive
Put me by the window where the old words burn
Let the dust take attendance for my turn

[Bowed String Break]

[Final Chorus]
The cup comes back, the cup comes back
Salt on the rim and the century cracked
Raise it up slow, let the house lean in
Every long leaving has a door in the wind
The cup comes back, the cup comes back
Small enough to hold, too loud to unpack

[Outro]
Home is a mouthful
Home is a spark
Home is a small cup
Full of dark