Lyrics:

It's knowing that your door is always open and your path is free to walk

That makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag rolled up and stashed behind your couch

And it's knowing I'm not shackled by forgotten words and bonds

And the ink stains that have dried upon some line

That keeps you in the backroads by the rivers of my mem'ry

That keeps you ever gentle on my mind



It's not clinging to the rocks and ivy planted on their columns now that bind me

Or something that somebody said because they thought we fit together walking

It's just knowing that the world will not be cursing or forgiving

When I walk along some railroad track and find

That you're moving on the backroads by the rivers of my mem'ry

And for always you're just gentle on my mind



Though the wheat fields and the clotheslines

And the junkyards and the highways come between us

And some other woman's crying to her mother cause she turned and I was gone

I still might run in silence, tears of joy might stain my face

And the summer sun might burn me till I'm blind

But not to where I cannot see you walking on the backroads

By the rivers flowing gently on my mind



I dipped my cup of of soup back from a gurgling crackling cauldron in some train yard

My beard a roughen full coal pile and a dirty hat pulled low across my face

Through cupped hands round a tin can I pretend to hold you to my breast and find

That you're waitin' from the backroads by the rivers of my mem'ry

Ever smiling ever gentle on my mind