Well 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, stashed behind your couch
And it's knowin' I'm not shackled
By forgotten words and bonds
Or the ink stains that have dried upon some line
That keeps you in the backroads
By the rivers of my memory
And keeps you ever gentle on my mind
It's not clinging to the rocks and ivy
Planted on their columns now that bind us
Nor something that somebody said
Because they thought we fit together walkin'
It's just knowin' 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 memory
And for hours you're just gentle on my mind
Though the wheat fields and the clothes lines
And the junkyards and the highways come between us
And some other man's cryin' to his mother
'Cause he 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 'til I'm blind
But not to where I cannot see you moving on the backroads
By the rivers flowing gentle on my mind
I dip my cup of soup back from a gurgling
Crackling caldron in some train yard
My hair's rustling, cold towel, 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 waiting from the backroads
By the rivers of my memories
Ever smiling ever gentle on my mind
And your path is free to walk
That makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag
Rolled up, stashed behind your couch
And it's knowin' I'm not shackled
By forgotten words and bonds
Or the ink stains that have dried upon some line
That keeps you in the backroads
By the rivers of my memory
And keeps you ever gentle on my mind
It's not clinging to the rocks and ivy
Planted on their columns now that bind us
Nor something that somebody said
Because they thought we fit together walkin'
It's just knowin' 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 memory
And for hours you're just gentle on my mind
Though the wheat fields and the clothes lines
And the junkyards and the highways come between us
And some other man's cryin' to his mother
'Cause he 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 'til I'm blind
But not to where I cannot see you moving on the backroads
By the rivers flowing gentle on my mind
I dip my cup of soup back from a gurgling
Crackling caldron in some train yard
My hair's rustling, cold towel, 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 waiting from the backroads
By the rivers of my memories
Ever smiling ever gentle on my mind