One Suitcase

One suitcase — everything I owned
Now look what it built

I landed in a coat too thin
An address creased into my palm
Customs asked what I was carrying
I said "sir, everything I am"
I learned the bus routes before English
Slept above a laundromat
Sent half of every paycheck home
And never once looked back

They said "go back where you came from"
I said "watch where I'm going"

One suitcase (one suitcase)
All I owned in my two hands (two hands)
Built a table twelve can sit at —
Now try to fit that in one suitcase

One suitcase! (one suitcase)
Two hands! (two hands)
Watch where I'm going —
One suitcase

The first house key shook in my fingers
I stood a long time on the mat
My mother cried through the receiver:
"Son, you really did all that"
Now my daughter speaks two languages
Teases my accent at the store
And the thin coat from that first winter
Hangs behind the hall closet door

The suitcase lives inside the attic
I show my daughter now and then —
Turn the little key, lift the lid:
"All I owned once fit in here
Now look what won't fit again"

One suitcase (one suitcase)
All I owned in my two hands (two hands)
Built a table twelve can sit at —
Now try to fit that in one suitcase
(One suitcase!)

Everything I owned in one hand
Everything I love won't fit