Home Again (Forster & Dorothy)

Home Again (Forster & Dorothy)
by Si Kahn & Tom Chapin
© Joe Hill Music & The Last Music Co. (ASCAP)

My great uncle Forster
Came from Asheville, North Carolina
His life was quite incredible but true
He had a friend named Thomas
A writer by his trade
Who dreamed of fame
The way that young men do

And Thomas Wolfe wrote a book
Now famous far and wide
Though he died before it ever saw the light
It's title is a common phrase:
“You Can't Go Home Again”
We speak it like we're certain that it's right

But is it true we can't go home again
And we're condemned forever more to roam?
If you can find the work you need, I believe
In your truest place you will find a home

My great uncle Forster
Did not believe in marriage
Or waging war, or even God above
He came north to Greenwich Village
Met a pretty girl named Dorothy
The two of them fell crazy mad in love

But Forster would not marry
Even when she was expecting
So they split, leaving Dorothy alone
And she came to feel her daughter
Was the force of God within her
In the Catholic Church
She found herself a home

So is it true you can't go home again
And we're condemned
Forever more to roam?
If you find the faith you need, I believe,
In your truest place you will find a home

Faith led her to the Bowery
Where the poor and desperate gather
The stiffs and bums the wealthy never see
She made a home among the homeless
The men that no-one wanted
And in her grace they found their dignity

From anarchist to pacifist
To the Catholic Worker Movement
Ironically, humility brought fame
And some say Dorothy Day
Is on the road to sainthood
While just a few
Remember Forster's name

My Mother sometimes took us
On the Staten Island Ferry
On a pilgrimage that led to Forster's door
With grownups inside talking
I'd be outside with my brothers
We'd watch the busy boats
Down at the shore

I remember him on holidays,
Christmas and Thanksgiving,
Sitting quietly in suit and vest and tie
As my Grandma and her sisters
Went fussing all around him
I learned this story long after he died

Is it true, you can't go home again
And we're condemned
Forever more to roam?
If you can find the love you need, I believe,
In your truest place you will find a home
In your truest place you can find your home
In your truest place you will be home

This song appears on Tom Chapin's Threads CD.

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