[Verse 1]
It's knowing that your door is always open
And your path is free to walk
That makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag
Rolled up and stashed behind your couch
And it's knowing I'm not shacked by forgotten words and bonds
And the ink stains that have dried upon some line
That keeps you in the backroads by the rivers of my memory
Keeps you ever gentle on my mind

[Verse 2]
It's not clinging to the rocks and ivy
Planted on their columns now that binds me
Or something that somebody said
Because they thought we fit together walking
It's just knowing that the world will not be cursing or forgiving
When I walk along some railroad track and find
That you're moving on the backroads by the rivers of my memory
And for hours you're just gentle on my mind

[Verse 3]
Though the wheat fields and the clotheslines
And the junkyards and the highways come between us
And some other woman's crying to her mother
'Cause she turned and I was gone
I still might run in silence, tears of joy might stain my face
And the summer sun might burn me 'til I'm blind
But not to where I cannot see you walking on the backroads
By the rivers flowing gentle on my mind
[Verse 4]
I dipped my cup of soap
Back from a gurgling, crackling caldron in some trainyard
My beard a roughening coal pile
And a dirty hat pulled low across my face
Through cupped hands 'round a tin can
I pretend to hold you to my breast and find
That you're waving from the backroads by the rivers of my memory
Ever you're just gentle on my mind