Crumbs lyrics

My sister has a daughter that doesn't look much like her
She looks more like the father she won’t see
She's mostly on her phone these days
She's got a couple friends her age
Some secrets that she’d die to try to keep

When I'm staying in their guest room
I can hear her in the next room
The whispers and the silence and the sighs
She doesn't eat much breakfast
A single slice of toast at most
Watches from the corners of her eyes

There's crumbs around the corners of her mouth
You can hear the highway from their house
The traffic sounds like water in a river rushing south
We'll never win this war, but maybe we can wait it out
We'll never win this war, but maybe we can wait it out

Her mother is my sister
She's a fighter, but she's tired now
The third shift’s such a b*tch to decent sleep
On Sundays, she puts perfume on
And waltzes with the vacuum on
Sucks up the destruction of the week
In the kitchen, there’s a radio
She sings along to the ones she knows
Remembers back when some of these were new
When the girls all chose a guy from the dances at the Y
'Cause it felt like that was what you’re supposed to do

Now all those choices seem a little grim
Violent wild or disengaged and dim
The highway goes forever, but your funds will fence you in
Paying bills and stubbing out generic super slims
The years, they put the yellow in her hair and teeth and skin

Her husband was a contractor, a hunter, and a fly fisher
He never raised a hand, he just withdrew
So far inside his head that you would barely even notice him
A ghost that's usually in the other room
Eventually they started sleeping separately
Eventually it didn't even hurt
Last winter, he moved out to his brother's house
Eventually he stopped going to work
Now she hasn’t seen a check in seven months
And they're living off of credit cards and crumbs

She's pretty sure her daughter has been meeting up with boys
We'll never win this war, but maybe we won't get destroyed
She's wishing that that highway wouldn't make that goddamn noise
She doesn't really trust her daughter's friends
But she's happy that I'm helping out with rent
So we stay up late and talk about the way it was before
We can maybe wait it out, but we'll never win this war
We can maybe wait it out, but we'll never win this war