Calico Plains

Sweet Abilena looks out at the midwestern sky
 Sweet seventeen with a faraway look in her eyes
 She said, "I feel like a bird in a cage
 But come September I'm flying away"
 I said, "I'm gonna miss you" then I made her promise to write
 Since we were tall as the corn in the spring
 We shared every secret, shared every dream
 So anxious to grow in the new summer rain
 And bloom like a rose on the calico plains
 How could she hear as we laughed on that warm summer night
 The tiny heart of the baby she carried inside
 I stood beside her when September came
 Watched her get married and caught the bouquet
 And like those hand me down dresses she gave me
 I made her dreams mine
 From a seat by the window on wings made of steel
 I stared at the patchwork over the fields
 Where young tears that once fell like warm summer rain
 Were turning to snow on the calico plains
 Sweet Abilena looks out at the midwestern sky
 Closer to thirty but farther away in her eyes
 She holds her babies like she holds her dreams
 Each night she kisses and rocks them to sleep while
 She reads the letters she makes me promise to write
 Sweet Abliena looks out at the midwestern sky