I Tried Going West

I tried going west where the sky meets the sun

Where the edge of the world’s always been

As far from this place as a girl gets to run

When her reasons to stay have worn thin

Out there the days were so bright and so blue

Yet I missed all my thunder and rain

The way a storm punctures a hot afternoon

Washing away every stain

When my maps pointed north they were calling for snow

To cover all sound and all sight

Tell me where on this earth does all that noise go

Underneath all of that white

With thaws scarcely mentioned I dug out my truck

By the time the storm cleared I was gone

Back on the road with the radio up

Singing at the top of my lungs

Driving and crying and driving some more

Oh the south is a good place to hide

Hot nights, cold beer and creaky screen doors

And a motel’s vacancy sign

A letter a day I wrote back home to you

But not one you ever received

Because I can’t stand a man who lies like you do

And I can’t bear a woman who pleads

One day it dawned I had run out of road

And out of reasons to run

Like a horse to the barn I was hell bent to go

As fast going back as I’d come

Home, home was the song that I sang

As I pulled in just before dark

There was only a hook where your coat used to hang

That’s where I hung up my heart

I tried going west, where the sky meets the sun