Just A Few More Miles

I left my home out on the prairie When I’d barely turned eighteen Went to work a Texas cattle line Driving longhorns through the heat My shirt was small, my hat too big That old six-gun worn and cold Three lone cartridges inside All the worldly things I owned Ma and Pa worked hard for every dollar Hands worn thin from years of strain Never gave me all I wanted But I never went in vain My first pair of boots were oversized Pa just laughed and said with pride “Boy don’t worry, give it time You’ll grow into ‘em by and by” Now I’m riding by the river Underneath that western sky Dust upon my coat and shoulders Watching evening drifting by Folks I pass all look right through me Like I never knew this land But inside I’m still young Pete Running barefoot through the sand Just a few more miles And I’ll be home again Bo Merrick looked me up and down When he hired me on that day Said “Son that pistol won’t protect you When the wolves come near the stray” He handed me a Colt Army And an old Winchester too Said “If you aim to guard this cattle You need tools that’ll see you through” Me and Kit and James and Mack Drove seventeen hundred head North to Big Horn Basin country Sleeping underneath our bedrolls spread Nights beside the fire were simple Two men watching while we ate Cleaned our guns and stitched our jackets While the coffee simmered late I patched elbows rough and crooked Thinking of my Mama’s hands Lord her sewing looked like artwork Mine looked stitched by desperate men Now I’m riding by the river Underneath that western sky Dust upon my coat and shoulders Watching evening drifting by Folks I pass all look right through me Like I never knew this land But inside I’m still young Pete Running barefoot through the sand Just a few more miles And I’ll be home again Mama always tried to warn me Nothing in this world is free If a stranger offers something There’s a cost you do not see “Trust your kin and trust old friendships More than fancy words and smiles There’s some wolves that walk like people You can spot ‘em by their eyes” When I told old Bo goodbye Tried to hand his pistol back He pushed it toward me once again Said “Keep ‘em both out on your track” “A man with something worth protecting Needs the means to hold his ground Never place too much trust in strangers That’ll get a good man down” Mary Anne kept writing letters Said she’d wait till I returned “Take your time and chase your future I’ll still be here when your trail turns” Now I’m fixing to ask that woman Be my wife for all my days Build a farm beside the river Raise some cattle, cut some hay Now I’m riding by the river And I see the old windmill Smoke is rising from the chimney And my heart can’t hold still Folks may see a weathered cowboy Burned by dust and trail and sun But Mama’s boy is riding home now To the place where he begun Just a few more miles Lord I’m finally home