Gentle on My Mind

It's knowing you don't try to buy my freedom
 With some promise made of gold
 That for you my door stays open
 And our love becomes a simple two way street
 And it's knowing we're 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
 That keeps you ever gentle on my mind
 It's not clinging to the rocks and ivy
 Planted on some column now that binds us
 Or something that somebody said
 Because they thought we fit together walking
 It's just knowing that
 The world will not be
 Cursing or forgiving
 When I'm drifting through the market place and find
 That you're moving on the back roads
 By the rivers of my memory
 And for hours, you're just gentle on my mind
 Well the wheat fields and the clothes lines
 And the junkyards and the highways come between us
 And some other woman crying to her mother
 Cause she turned and you were gone
 I still might walk for hours
 Tears of joy might stain my face
 And a summer sun might burn me 'til I'm blind
 But not to where I cannot see
 You moving on the back roads
 By the rivers flowing gentle on my mind
 The shutters creek and autumn winds
 That make me draw inside myself in silence
 Cross legged now I sit and watch
 The endless chase of leaves across my yard
 And laying down my hair brush
 I lean back within my window seat and find
 That your moving on the back roads
 By the rivers of my memory, ever smiling
 Ever gentle on my mind