Blue smoke across the stubble fields River running slow Charlie watched the moon rise Fat and pale an hour or so ago He heard the distant call of geese In the faintly glowing west Circling low and falling fast In the distant fields to rest He pitched his cigarette past the front porch rail Watched it glowing in the dark The night wind rose and stirred the gra** Fanned the glowing spark It flared and caught the porch boards Tinder dry from drought He watched it grow and made no move To try and put it out Some shiny new guy down at the bank With a loud and booming voice He shuffled papers looked away Said ‘sir we have no choice' Charlie tried to reason with them It's like they never heard He had no more to offer them He only had his word The wind increased, the flames blew up The porch grew black and charred He rose at length, picked up his gun Walked out in the yard Where his truck was parked All piled with boxes, furniture and such Twenty hears of pain and heartache Don't amount to much No idea where to go No way for him stay He turned the key, let out the clutch Slowly drove away In the rearview mirror He watched the flames roar up the wall Sparks exploded skyward As he watched the front porch fall He pulled out on the highway In the distance saw the lights Hear the high and keening wail Of sirens in the night He pulled a cigarette from his pocket Hit the lighter in the dash Carefully thought of nothing As the fire trucks went pa**ed He lies quiet in a motel room His hands behind his head He keeps his mind a perfect blank While lying on the bed The timbers and the chimney rise up Blackened ruined and charred To mark the spot where Charlie loved too long And way too hard