A gap in iron bars lets a beam of light hit the ground He’s in prison in this dusty out back western town They know he shot a man, shot him in the head Laying in that pool of blood stone dead Yes he can hear a knocking as the gallows go up out side Tomorrow he’s going to have to surely die The gallows silhouetted by a blazing sun His days on this earth are how just one On bended knees he reaches for the mysterious God of love In the night God heard him calling him up above He wakes up on the floor by the rattle of keys Now the time has come and deaths at the door Now he is lead to slaughter his hands and feet are in chains Yet he knows he’s going to ride again on the plains The light fades from his eyes while the sun does rise I’ve just seen a wise man turn to the light