Hannibal, MO

I had a true love from Hannibal
 Where the Mississippi turns flat and wide
 We'd lay out on the sandbars
 And fall asleep to the barges and the fireflies
 And I killed my true love from Hannibal
 She was nineteen and I was twenty-two
 Summer was ending and she was leaving soon
 To study writing on the east coast
 And I worked in my father's shop
 Fixing air conditioners and heating pumps
 Going to college never made much sense to me
 I wanted to keep my true love close to me
 The summers are hot in Hannibal
 The summers there are unbearable
 So we'd steal down to the water's edge
 And cool off in the river's ebb
 One night we decided what we would do
 Swim to the middle 'til our strength gave out
 Where the current was strong and deep
 Together we'd be pulled down to sleep
 So we swam 'til our bodies were weak
 I watched my true love get washed out to sea
 I felt a terrible grip from beneath
 The river took her but it didn't take me
 In St. Louis there's a prison cell
 It'll be twelve more years 'til I get out
 When I do her father says he'll shoot me down
 If I don't do it myself
 Most days I just try and sleep
 I dream of Hannibal when it was in between
 It's not quite day and it's not yet night
 We fall asleep to the barges and the fireflies