Gail and the Dusty Road

I rise before the dawn

In a house of boards and stone

Feed the horses, mend the fence

Work the fields alone

My life has been a straight line

Working dust and time

Just a lonely cowboy

Keeping to the line

Then Gail came through the mornin'

Like sunlight on the hay

A ring on her left hand

But I looked anyway

I told my heart to listen

Told my hands to stay still

But love don't ask permission

It just climbs the hill

And I was brokenhearted

Looking at the floor

Falling for a woman

I could never hold for more

So I went down to the bar

Where the sad songs always play

Drown that lonely in a glass

And let the night go, it's only

There I met a fellow

Said, come on, have a drink

We laughed until the bar lights blurred

I never had to think

I was drunk and stumbling

He led me to his door

When I woke up in the morning

I knew less than before

There was Gail in the doorway

And the man I laughed with too

Her husband stood beside her

And the room felt split in two

We all stood there embarrassed

Caught in our mess and shame

Free broken hearts and silence

All tangled up the same

And I was brokenhearted

Looking at the floor

Falling for a woman

I could never hold for more

So I went down to the bar

Where the sad songs always play

Drown my lonely in a glass

And let the night go its own way

Now the dawn comes slow and heavy

And the horses wait for me

I keep working like I'm supposed to, but I'm not who I used to be

Gale, all that trouble fade like smoke across the plains

But the egg still rides beside me in the rhythm of the rain