Sweet Abilena looks out at the midwestern sky sweet seventeen with a faraway look in her eyes She said 'I feel like a bird in a cage But come September I'm flying away' I said 'I'm gonna miss you' then i made her promise to write
Since we were tall as the corn in the spring We shared every secret, shared every dream So anxious to grow in the new summer rain And bloom like a rose on the Calico Plains
How could she hear as we laughed on that warm summer night The tiny beart of the baby she carried inside I stood beside her when September came Watched her get married and caught the bouquet And like those hand me down dresses she gave me I made hger dreams mine
From a seat by the window on wings made of steal I stared at the patchwork over the fields Where young tears that once fell like warm summer rain Were turning to snow on the Calico Plains
Sweet Abilena looks out at the midwestern sky Closer to thirty but farther away in her eyes She holds her babies liek she holds her dreams Each night she kisses and rocks them to sleep while She reads the letters she makes me promise to write