In Salida

Once upon a recent time
With days to kill and a long long drive
The detour to where he once was mine
I found myself back in Salida

There was a man with eyes like the sea
The green and gold of summer weed
Who held his heart between his teeth
There was a man who once chose me
Brick fall in at the back of the bar
... like a river folded arms
His arrow stare tore me apart
Off my course broke both our hearts
But the second time around
We held each other underground
In the shadows of the city lights
My ring-burnt skin his covered eyes
Like a dream that rolls down hill
We tumbled headfirst as we spilled
Still we tried to hold on to the wind
I never saw him again

Now with time to spare and a borrowed car
Skin tight aggrieving heart
From another love, another time
I retraced the steps I'd left behind
Went back to that mountain town
I whispered his name to the threatening clouds
Trying to conjure up that underground
Afraid to speak his name out loud
It was a place where time had slowed
Now its cafes are vintage clothes
And I knew who I'd come here to let go
And left long ago

We tasted then the desire and rage
Like actors on off-Broadway
This time I knew more was at stake
Alone I chased regret and age
I tried to trap them in my songs
But always got the timing wrong
So now I'm chasing down where I belong
To pay my dues before I'm gone

Chasing all the untied ends
I'm chasing them down so they blurring blend into one great love
I'll make amends and pull back from the edge again
And heal the thing that stuck and broke
The knot it's always in my throat
A country on the verge of an overthrow
Rusted belly of a sunken boat
And in the last light of that winter's day
I lit a match and I watched the flames
From the biggest fire that I could make
Made a coyote breath, a river...
The Hudson Line, the ...
The Cumberland, the Arkansas, traveled a long way from Tennessee
To settle this free

Once upon a recent time
With days to kill and a long long drive
The detour to where he once was mine
I found myself back in Salida
In Salida
In Salida