The New Timer

He rode the rails since the Great Depression

Fifty years out on the skids

He said, "You don't cross nobody

You'll be all right out here, kid"

Left my family in Pennsylvania

Searching for work, I hit the road

I met Frank in East Texas

In a freight yard blown through with snow

From New Mexico to Colorado

California to the sea

Frank, he showed me the ropes, sir

Just till I could get back on my feet

I hoed sugar beets outside of Firebaugh

I picked the peaches from the Marysville trees

They bunked us in a barn just like animals

Me and a hundred others just like me

We split up come the springtime

I never seen Frank again

Except one rainy night, he blew by me on a grainer

Shouted my name and disappeared in the rain and wind

They found him shot dead outside of Stockton

His body lying on a muddy hill

Nothing taken, nothing stolen

Somebody killing just to kill

Late that summer, I was rolling through the plains of Texas

A vision passed before my eyes

A small house sitting track-side

With the glow of the savior's beautiful light

A woman stood cooking in the kitchen

Kid sat at a table with his old man

Now I wonder, does my son miss me

Does he wonder where I am?

Tonight I pick my campsite carefully

Outside the Sacramento yard

Gather some wood and light a fire

In the early winter dark

Wind whistling cold, I pull my coat around me

Heat some coffee and stare into the black night

I lie awake, I lie awake, sir

With my machete by my side

My Jesus, your gracious love and mercy

Tonight, I'm sorry, could not fill

My heart like one good rifle

And the name of who I ought to kill