You Were Gone

(album: Some Strange Country - 2010)

There's a hill I cannot get to
No matter how I try
Would you tell me the fastest way to you
And I'll fly

On that hill you built a castle
Made of leaves and sticks and stones
You had no dreams of grandeur
Just a place to call your own

There you stood and saw the glory
On the land o'er which you reigned
There you stood and the glory and the pain, oh the pain
There you stood and saw the glory and the pain

There's a hill across the ocean
Down a road that's lined with green
It was there I first saw you
When I was eighteen

When you spoke I couldn't hear you
I held the can up to my ear
All your words had gotten lost among
The tattered twine and tears

All of those days that we went swimming
I never could swim upstream like you
All of those nights that went diving
I never could dive as deep as you
How did I know that I was weary
I fell asleep right next you
All of that time my heart was heavy

I tried to climb your mountain
I pushed the rock uphill
Oh, I tried to climb your mountain
But I slipped against my will

So I found myself a backway
Saddled up my roan
Oh, I found myself a backway and
I made it to your home

But you were gone before I got there
Gone back from where you came
You were gone before I called your pretty name, pretty name
You were gone before I called your pretty name

Before you saw the glory and the pain