How much time and how many sad miles
before I lay this body down?
Will this lonely road take me to new places
where all my old friends can be found?
I see the road is long and the road is dry
with dark sorrow along the way.
It’s the smile I see upon your face
that sustains me through the day.
The sun is hard and the sun is hot
and shadows lay across the land.
I feel the grit invade my eyes
weeping wet in the blowing sand.
I hear the cry of a solitary magpie
who lies hidden in the sage.
Its sad sound echoes across the wind
through the rocks that never age.
Thin clouds sail across the sky
looking for a home they never find.
I taste the bitter disappointment
that has settled deep within my mind.
There is a smell of death along the road
that sometimes comes to fill the air.
Alas, I have traveled too many happy miles
to leave it now without despair.