Gentle on My Mind

It's knowin' that your door is always open
 And your path is free to walk
 That makes me tend to leave my sleepin' bag
 Rolled up and stashed behind your couch
 And it's knowin' 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
 And keeps you ever gentle on my mind
 It's not clingin' to the rocks
 And ivy planted on their columns now that bind me
 Or somethin' that somebody said
 Because they thought we fit together walkin'
 It's just knowin' that the world will not be cursin' or forgiving
 When I walk along some railroad track and find
 That you're movin' on the back roads
 By the rivers of my memory
 And for hours you're just gentle on my mind
 Though the wheat fields and the coastlines
 And the junkyards and the highways flow between us
 And some other woman's cryin' to her mother
 'Cause she turned and you were gone
 I still might run in silence, tears of joy might stain my face
 And the summer sun might burn me till I'm blind
 But not to where I cannot see you
 Walkin' on the back roads
 By the rivers flowin' gentle on my mind
 You dip your cup of soup back
 From a gurglin' cracklin' cauldron in some train yard
 Your beard a rustlin' coal pile
 And a dirty hat pulled low across your face
 Through cupped hands 'round a tin can
 I pretend to hold you to myself and find
 That you're waitin' from the back roads
 By the rivers of my memory
 Ever smilin', ever gentle on my mind