Gentle On My Mind

<p>It&#x27;s knowin&#x27; that your door is always open<br/>And your path is free to walk<br/>That makes me tend to leave my sleepin&#x27; bag<br/>Rolled up and stashed behind your couch<br/>And it&#x27;s knowin&#x27; I&#x27;m not shackled<br/>By forgotten words and bonds<br/>And the ink stains that have dried upon some line<br/>That keeps you in the back roads<br/>By the rivers of my memory<br/>That keeps you ever gentle on my mind<br/><br/>It&#x27;s not clingin&#x27; to the rocks and ivy<br/>Planted on their columns now that bind me<br/>Or something that somebody said because<br/>They thought we fit together walkin&#x27;<br/>It&#x27;s just knowing that the world<br/>Will not be cursing or forgiving<br/>When I walk along some railroad track and find<br/>That you&#x27;re movin&#x27; on the back roads<br/>By the rivers of my memory<br/>And for hours you&#x27;re just gentle on my mind<br/><br/>Though the wheat fields and the clothes lines<br/>And the junkyards and the highways come between us<br/>And some other woman&#x27;s cryin&#x27; to her mother<br/>&#x27;cause she turned and I was gone<br/>I still might run in silence<br/>Tears of joy might stain my face<br/>And the summer sun might burn me till I&#x27;m blind<br/>But not to where I cannot see<br/>You walkin&#x27; on the back roads<br/>By the rivers flowin&#x27; gentle on my mind<br/><br/>I dip my cup of soup back from a gurglin&#x27; cracklin&#x27; cauldron<br/>In some train yard<br/>My beard a rustlin&#x27; coal pile<br/>And a dirty hat pulled low across my face<br/>Through cupped hands &#x27;round a tin can<br/>I pretend to hold you to my breast and find<br/>That you&#x27;re waitin&#x27; from the back roads<br/>By the rivers of my memory<br/>Ever smilin&#x27;, ever gentle on my mind