Sage After Rain

[Verse 1]
He died with his boots on in another man's bed
The way he once said it would be
He's a scoundrel I guess, just got what was due
But he was always a good friend to me
He talked of a girl he'd known long ago
His eyes welled with tears when he'd try to explain
How the sound of her voice
It made him feel whole
And the smell of her skin
Like sage after rain
Like sage after rain
Like sage after rain

[Verse 2]
I'd go to East Colfax with one of my friends
Back in high school for something to do
And that's where I met him when he bought us some beer
A six pack if he could have two
He said come back to my place you can drink it there safe
Don't worry its cool
Then he gave us his name
I paused at a picture and he told me about her and the smell of her skin
Like sage after rain
Like sage after rain
Like sage after rain

[Verse 3]
I'd go to his house
And we'd talk book for hours
Pacing the floor as he'd quote from his head
There's an old Royal typewriter a desk by a window
Three novels in boxes under his bed
A drafty old house
His grandfather'd left him he grew up in Boston came west on a train
The snow-covered front range and a lovely young teacher
The smell of her skin
Like sage after rain
Like sage after rain
Like sage after rain

[Verse 4]
She was killed in the wreck that left him half-broken
He told me about it one time, and that's all
Some people said it'd have helped if she was driving
He said that made less than no difference at all
He'd talk of her beauty
Her eyes and her fire
He'd smile when he called her "broad with great brains"
But there was always respect
And his memories were tender
And the smell of her skin
Like sage after rain
Like sage after rain
Like sage after rain

[Verse 5]
They called me about him early one morning
I made the arrangements that sent him to burn
No wife, no children, no next-of-kin there
Like it said in his will they gave me the urn
I drove North to Wyoming in a late April drizzle
A place where we'd hunted on the antelope plain
I spread him about in the place he had chosen
A prayer and a breath
Of sage after rain
Sage after rain
Sage after rain