The North Fence Line

[Intro]
[Verse]
Barbed wire's sagging on the cedar post
Walking with the ghost I love the most
The feed trough's rusted through the bottom plate
Leaning on the heavy garden gate
I reckon that the weeds have won the fight
Hiding everything that’s out of sight
[Pre-Chorus]
Sun is dipping low behind the draw
Coldest wind that I ever saw
Shadows stretching out across the clay
Watching all the color fade away
[Chorus]
I should’ve been there for her eighty-fourth
Instead of driving cattle to the north
I traded Mama’s time for a sickened herd
Leaving every "sorry" quite unheard
The golden hour’s bleeding on the floor
Of a house that ain't a home no more
[Post-Chorus]
(Viola and steel guitar swell)
[Verse]
The Blackleg hit the herd in early June
I worked beneath a cold and heavy moon
She sat waiting in her parlor chair
I was miles away in the mountain air
I thought I had a dozen years to wait
But the Lord, He went and shut the gate
[Pre-Chorus]
Dust is dancing in the kitchen light
Ghostly traces of a world so bright
I can almost hear the kettle hum
Waiting for the son who didn't come
[Chorus]
I should’ve been there for her eighty-fourth
Instead of driving cattle to the north
I traded Mama’s time for a sickened herd
Leaving every "sorry" quite unheard
The golden hour’s bleeding on the floor
Of a house that ain't a home no more
[Bridge]
The viola moans just like the prairie wind
Counting up the ways that I have sinned
I’d trade the grass and every head of stock
To turn the hands back on the kitchen clock
Just to see her smile a final time
Instead of living with this quiet crime
[Solo]
(Pedal steel and mandolin solo)
[Verse]
Found a porcelain cup beside the well
More stories than a man could ever tell
The porch is sinking in the sandy loam
A long way from the place I once called home
The cattle’s gone and the well is dry
Underneath a wide and Texas sky
[Chorus]
I should’ve been there for her eighty-fourth
Instead of driving cattle to the north
I traded Mama’s time for a sickened herd
Leaving every "sorry" quite unheard
The golden hour’s bleeding on the floor
Of a house that ain't a home no more
[Outro]