Powderfinger

(album: Hitchhiker - 2017)

Look out, Mama,
there's a white boat
coming up the river
With a big red beacon,
and a flag,
and a man on the rail
I think you'd better call John,
'Cause it don't
look like they're here
to deliver the mail
And it's less than a mile away
I hope they didn't come to stay
It's got numbers on the side
and a gun
And it's making big waves.

Daddy's gone,
my brother's out hunting
in the mountains
Big John's been drinking
since the river took Emmy-Lou
So the powers that be
left me here
to do the thinking
And I just turned twenty-two
I was wondering what to do
And the closer they got,
The more those feelings grew.

Daddy's rifle in my hand
felt reassuring
He told me,
Red means run, son,
numbers add up to nothing
But when the first shot
hit the docks I saw it coming
Raised my rifle to my eye
Never stopped to wonder why.
Then I saw black,
And my face splashed in the sky.

Shelter me from the powder
and the finger
Cover me with the thought
that pulled the trigger
Think of me
as one you'd never figured
Would fade away so young
With so much left undone
Remember me to my love,
I know I'll miss her.