Lyrics Mary Chapin Carpenter – What Does It Mean To Travel

From departure to arrival
what does it mean to travel
With your suitcase by the handle
holding everything you need

Are you going or are you coming
walking slow or running
Toward somebody or from something
trade your longing in for speed

and the freedom to be a stranger
is a bargain that’s ours alone
sometimes you just want to be someone else
unencumbered and unknown

From departure to arrival
what does it mean to travel
And from taking off to landing
you could feel your heart expanding
You walked halfway down Manhattan
till you met the Brooklyn Bridge

and in a 2 AM transmission
from a high wire act position
how the skyline behind you glistened
as if someone pulled a switch
and I don’t want to be a stranger
and I don’t want to be alone
but sometimes I just want to be somewhere else
untethered and unknown
when I am far from home

From departure to arrival
what does it mean to travel