Gentle On My Mind

(album: Hits, Hits, The Don Gibson Way - 1970)

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
And it's knowing I'm not shackled by forgotten words and bonds
And the ink stains that have dried upon some lines
That keeps you in the back roads, by the rivers of my memory
And keeps you ever gentle on my mind

It's not clinging to the rocks and ivy
Planted on their columns now that binds me
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 walk along some railroad track and find
You're waving from the back roads, by the rivers of my memory
For hours you're just gentle on my mind

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 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 roughening coal pile
And 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
That you're waving from the back roads, by the rivers of my memory
Ever smiling, ever gentle on my mind