Gentle on My Mind

It's knowin' that your door is always open
 And your path is free to walk
 That makes me tend to leave my sleepin' bag
 Rolled up and stashed behind your couch
 And it's knowin' I'm not shackled by forgotten words and bonds
 And the ink stains that have dried up on some line
 It keeps you in the back roads by the rivers of my memory
 Keeps you ever gentle on my mind
 It's not clingin' to the rocks and ivy planted
 On their columns now that binds me
 Or somethin' that somebody said
 Because they thought we fit together walkin'
 It's just knowin' that the world will not be cursin' or forgivin'
 When I walk along some railroad track and find
 Movin' on the back roads by the rivers of my memory
 And for hours you're just gentle on my mind
 Well, I dip my cup of soup back from the gurglin'
 Cracklin' caldron in some train yard
 My beard a roughenin' coal pile
 And a dirty hat pulled low across my face
 Cupped hands 'round a tin can
 I pretend I hold you to my breast and find
 That you're wavin' from the back roads by the river of my memory
 Ever smilin', ever gentle on my mind