West of Yesterday

Verse 1

Morning broke across the ridge

With the church bell thin and far away

I packed my father's watch

And the map of yesterday

Silver frost upon the pines

the tires cut a slow retreat

I left the cottage lights behind

chasing something incomplete

Pre-Chorus

And the radio keeps humming low

a voice I almost know

it calls my name across the static glow

Chorus

Ride the long horizon

where the rivers split in two

Every mile a different sky

every town a lighter hue

Ride the long horizon

till the years fall off my back

I'm carving westward with the dusk

along the fading track

Verse 2

Found a letter in an attic

yellowed curls of coffee rings

A stranger's hand confessing

all the things we never bring

I wrote one back beside the stove

with ink that smelled of rain

Sealed the envelope with wax

and set it down the window lane

Pre-Chorus

And the station lights keep blinking out

no train will come this route

so I whistle what the silence is about

Chorus

Ride the long horizon

where the rivers split in two

Every mile a different sky

every town a lighter hue

Ride the long horizon

till the years fall off my back

I'm carving westward with the dusk

along the fading track

Guitar Solo

Bridge

Somewhere past the grain elevators

and the billboards worn to grey

a son is learning my name slowly

like a scripture someone saves

I never meant to wander

I just never learned to stay

Chorus

Ride the long horizon

where the rivers split in two

Every mile a different sky

every town a lighter hue

Ride the long horizon

till the years fall off my back

I'm carving westward with the dusk

along the fading track