Gentle on My Mind

It's knowing that your door is always open
 And your path is free to walk
 That makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag
 Rolled up and stashed behind your couch
 It's knowing I'm not shackled
 By forgotten words and bonds
 And the ink stains that have dried upon some line
 That keeps you on the back roads by the rivers of my memory
 Keeps you ever gentle on my mind
 It's not clinging to the rocks and ivy
 Planted in a row that bind me
 Or something that somebody said
 Because they thought we fit together walking
 It's knowing that the world will not be cursing or forgiving
 When I walk along some railroad track and find
 You're moving on the back roads by the rivers of my memory
 For hours you're just gentle on my mind
 Though the wheat fields and the clothes lines
 And the junkyards and the highways come between us
 And some other woman's crying to her mother
 She turned and love was gone
 I still might run in silence, tears of joy might stain my face
 The summer sun might burn me till I'm blind
 But not to where I cannot see you walking on the back roads
 By the rivers flowing gentle on my mind
 I dip my cup of soup back from the gurgling
 Crackling cauldron in some train yard
 My beard a rustling coal pile
 A dirty hat pulled low across my face
 Through cupped hands 'round a tin can
 I pretend to hold you to my breast and find
 You're waving from the back roads by the rivers of my memory
 Ever smiling, ever gentle on my mind