Gentle on My Mind

knowin' that your door is always open And your path's free to walk That makes me tend to leave my sleepin' bag Rolled up and stashed behind your couch It's knowin' I'm not shackled by forgotten words or bonds Some ink stains that have dried upon some lines That keeps you on the backroads, by the rivers of my memories Keeps you ever gentle on my mind It's not clingin' to the rocks and ivy Planted on the columns now that binds me Or somethin' that somebody said 'Cause I thought we fit together walkin' It's knowin' that your world will not be cursin' or forgivin' When I walk along some railroad track and find It's you wavin' from the backroads by the rivers of my memory Ever smilin', ever gentle on my mind Although the wheat fields and the clotheslines And the junkyards and the highways come between us Some other woman cryin' to her mother 'Cause she turned and I was gone I still 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 walkin' on the backroads By the rivers flowin' gentle on my mind I'd dip my cup of soup back from them gurglin' Cracklin' cauldron in some trainyard An' my beard roughenin' coal pile Dirty hat pulled low cross my face Through cupped hands and a round tin can I pretend to hold you to my breast and find That you're wavin' from the backroads, by the rivers of my memory Ever smilin', ever gentle on my mind That you're wavin' from the backroads, by the rivers of my memory Ever smilin' ever gentle on my mind That you're wavin' from the backroads, by the rivers of my memory For hours you're just gentle on my mind