[Verse 1]
Nightly sippin' an ice tea might be
A moon as big as the night be slightly
Pushed back dreaming in an Oak wood rocker
Creaking the slats of my deck don't bother
‘cause I might be out here all night
Starbathing in the Carolina crescent moonlight
We got so much that we can sell them
Local organic post modern antebellum
This is the land of the farmer and the felon
Melon in the meadow, some still rebel yellin'
I hear the zapper burn a Japanese beetle
Slapping at a needle nose blooddrunk mosquito
Fireworks winding like torpedo
Finding their way into the night's tuxedo
I got a breath though at least four people
Depending on me to make sure that we grow
Put your arms round the one you that love
On the top of Paris Mountain just looking at the city
The moon sings soft from above
And the bell tower chimes one too many
Your eyes are a beautiful thing
I'll take all of the hazel brown that they'll give me
Where does the mutable sing?
Have you ever met a girl that's just too pretty?
I've been writing these words for two decades
Maybe I'm nearing the edge of the page
End of an age spending my days
It seems that there's more to do and less to say
This nest arrayed, all my mess displayed
I've tried to be confessional my stress conveyed
I think my best on stage when my flesh betrayed
Find honesty relieves the need for guesswork made
I'm just a man blessed with days
To wrestle with the truth of a message grave
And frankly I seem to harbor more doubts
Now then on the day when I first started out
And I think that I'm good in the grey but some days
I'm looking for the answer key hand-engraved
Expand my range don't want a stand still phase
I know I can handle your dismantling ways
So dance with your beautiful wife
And tell her that your sorry that you can't love her more
Dedicate the rest of your life
To performing her music like there'll never be an encore
Past where the Travelers rest
Up through Marietta and just beyond the d**tore
The autumn leaves bleeding their best
Have you ever played a game without keeping the score?
I wish I could play a double ba**
Slapping out a rhythm to the struggles that you face
And I wish that I could play a set of spoons
Like the sound of scooping out a dollop of the moon
And I wish I could play a steel washboard
Scraping my knuckles right across your inner core
I wish I could play a whiskey jug
Like the whispering ghost of the moonshine's love
And I wish I could pick out on a banjo hand slow
An old-timey gospel hymn to let ‘em know
And I wish I could strum upon a mouth harp out smart
Thumbing my veins to hear the twanging of a broken heart
I would have liked to been a real musician
It seems that a Gibson guitar helps people listen
All I got is words for your attention
My instrument is spitting, my instrument is living
So I'm playing myself a sound so effacing
Feel free to join me this seat isn't taken
I started in a minor key making
Nothing is finer than a Carolina trade wind
You write the melody, I'll hum along
Until this approaching thunder is gone
I'm full of wonder up under heat lightening
How can it be both comforting and frightening?
Like the teeth of a mama bear biting
Your discipline repels and invites in
I want to run and watch at the same time
Your nature is a good and terrible kind
Unbearable I'm trapped in my own
Sense of rational mind its never faith alone
I hate this poem still a great unknown
I didn't think I'd be scared when I'm grown!
So put Your arms around my child-like faith
And tell him that there's nothing living underneath the bed
My head can be a monstrous place
Where the shadows in the closet aren't just clothes instead
You come each night when I call
And remind me that I have nothing to dread
But I still lay watching the hall
Have you ever mistaken your heart for something God said?