ever since you left that day
it's like you're waiting
just outside the ports
for the right tide
to receive my clearance
you'll wait until after
the last clap of thunder

so many times
i walked backwards for miles on end
hour to broken hour
the shot heart of a man
the good days are through
i can't stop to think about you

fast as it came
it went away
forever until my flesh is cold
not much ahead
so much behind
turn back when half-way
every time

the thought within becomes
a little bit too certain
you try to out run yourself
never to be seen again
cool to the point of not feeling
much of anything
looking back
to old wrecks and mistakes

worn to the bone
beaten and broke
a heart is somewhere deep inside
so many others have faded
you remain in my memory
i'm running constantly
and it stays forever
like the smelter of this town
like this rugged old country
that's mostly gone now

you never loved
you just needed someone to say it to
i was filling in time
while waiting for you
like a speck of light
from a cigarette
extinguished
in the cold night

coming off the high
of whatever  it was
a heavy realization that it was just
a haze of smoke from a burning moment

I have dwelled on the magnitude
of a thousand lies you told
it's hard to forget
when you are fixed
so firmly in my soul

like trying to separate
the pages from the friction
as I'm scouring through the drawers
to find a pen
so i can cross you out

with a heart that was just burned
i will simply die out here
like a long haul driver stopped
as the CB radio cuts out
your love was the company
that went belly up
and i was the last one to find out