It was another time, another place, another page of family history
Things were different then, folks did not confess their sins so easily
And in the small town life, a certain order was in place
Painful memories were best forgotten and not faced
But however deeply buried, trouble always leaves its trace

She was a happy child, but times were hard, simple pleasures were in short supply
They had a family farm and everybody did their part, and they got by
Her father was a decent man, generous and good
But there lived in him a sadness no one understood
Still, he did for his family the very best he could

From the maze of his mind, through the corridors of consciousness
A noise, ever-present, like the clattering of stones
From the rooms of remembrance, now and evermore
Comes the muffled sound of tapping from a never-opened door

Chorus:
From the closet comes the clicking of skeletal remains
The clattering of dry and dusty bones
The faint odor of decay that never goes away
When old and musty secrets never see the light of day
Never see the light of day

It was a simple thing her father did, a favor to a fallen friend
A loan to be repaid once the fellow got back on his feet again
His luck was sure to change, he could see a brighter day
But everything went wrong, when it was due, he couldn’t pay
And since her father signed the loan, they took his farm away

In ruin and despair, he slid into the darkest depths of misery
It was a fatal blow to one already given to despondency
In the most painful of ways, he tried to take his life
But he lingered on for days, to the horror of his wife
And the sound of his suffering cut her like a knife

And when it was over, she tried to shield her children from
The scandal only spoken of in quiet, muffled tones
She tried to keep them sheltered from the sorrow and the pain
But in the awful silence, a certain sound remained

Chorus

She was a happy child, but times were hard, as times for her would always be
But life continued on, she worked hard and married, raised a family
Another generation, a daughter and a son
Who showed a certain sadness from the time that he was young
And she shared with him the shackles that could never be undone

And in the small town life continued on, he grew up and moved away
Had children of his own and fought the darkness all alone, until one day
He visited a cousin grown indiscreet with age
Who, in most dramatic fashion, worthy of the stage
Told the family story and supplied the missing page

A conspiracy of silence shattered in a moment
Like the searing sunlight flooding dusky catacombs
And for him and for his children, healing could begin
But his mother never spoke of it, silent to the end

Chorus