This Ain't No Pain

eyes like the grand canyon, boots like the clay
this old fella took me from atlanta to seattle
not on a tour but to find where we came
indians and pioneers wore out these roads
we coulda had a wagon train but rode a cadillac
this trip has told me me all that we lack
met a blondie on the road side and joined on up
even in the dark mud we knew we’d get stuck

hit the border of tennessee and had to know
this was the beginning and i’d be free
cross the mississippi and cleansed all night
drank from the jug, outta the wicked and the right
who hasn’t or shouldn’t let in the demons
to see the dawn, the darkness must win
you think i got women and whiskey for you
thats where your wrong, i stole mine from a fool

over the plains i run
like a shell from a gun
thru the mountains and old songs
rocks and briars, lovers and liars and my son
hear that i am so small
but got these skinny legs for lifting
also got big dreams and failing
this world on the floor for my drifting

arkansas, nebraska and old colorado
ain’t got nothing i ain’t ever thought i’d known
what i found out there is the forgotten legends
under the deep stone and trees lost to the heavens
men sit on benches sewn from stones
smoking their remedies and drinking their peace
“the savior is here for the taking anytime you’d wish”
he spoke with a dark and wise old lisp

by the time we reached the great divide
i had learned all i had been given in school
bout patriarchs and wicked rulers gone by
i had to sense it after all the time i ran away
the hours i spent under government rule
and toil along with the letters and lessons
crisp from the burning and lost in the learning
wretched and tumbled lost as i was found

she took me cross the river
and allowed me to be me
let me listen to the plains
let me realize this ain’t no pain