I Am a Town

I'm a town in Carolina I'm a detour on a ride For a phone call and a soda I'm a blur from the driver's side I'm the last gas for an hour If you're going 25 I am Texaco and tobacco I am dust you leave behind I am peaches in September And corn from a roadside stall I'm the language of the natives I'm a cadence and a drawl I'm the pines behind the graveyard And the cool beneath their shade Where the boys have left their beer cans I am weeds between the graves My porches sag and lean With old back men and children My sleep is filled with dreams I never can fulfill them I am a town I'm a church beside the highway Where the ditches never drain I'm a Baptist, like my daddy And Jesus knows my name I am memory and stillness I am lonely in old age I am not your destination I am clinging to my ways I am a town I'm a town in Carolina I am billboards in the fields I'm an old truck up on cinder blocks Missing all my wheels I am Pabst Blue Ribbon, American And "Southern Serves the South" I am tucked behind the Jaycees sign On the rural route I am a town I am a town I am a town Southbound