Gentle On My Mind

It's knowin' that your door is always open And your path is free to walk That makes me tend to leave my sleepin' bag Rolled up and stashed behind your couch And it's knowin' I'm not shackled by forgotten words and bonds And the ink stains that have dried up on some line It keeps you in the back roads by the rivers of my memory Keeps you ever gentle on my mind It's not clingin' to the rocks and ivy planted On their columns now that binds me Or somethin' that somebody said Because they thought we fit together walkin' It's just knowin' that the world will not be cursin' or forgivin' When I walk along some railroad track and find Movin' on the back roads by the rivers of my memory And for hours you're just gentle on my mind Well, I dip my cup of soup back from the gurglin' Cracklin' caldron in some train yard My beard a roughenin' coal pile And a dirty hat pulled low across my face Cupped hands 'round a tin can I pretend I hold you to my breast and find That you're wavin' from the back roads by the river of my memory Ever smilin', ever gentle on my mind