Had a river, had a mountain,
had an ocean and I didn’t drown.
Untied my boat, left my moorings,
Now I’m living in this little whitebread town.
Had a world, had a planet,
I stood out in every crowd,
But when love comes, you never plan it,
When it comes sometimes you best bow down.

I promised myself, and I promised her,
I wouldn’t regret, and I followed the plan.
But i never anticipated
A Gobi Desert in the heartland.

Every now and then I run into somebody
Who seemed to know me in my home world.
They’ll say, “I can’t believe that you’re living like this,
What a town for such a girl.”
And I’ll say, “love is like one of your tornadoes,
It’ll pick you up and drop you down,
Like a straw driven through a stop sign,
Like a root pulled up from the ground.”

She said we’ll be living with the salt of the earth,
So much salt it will lose its savor.
So much salt, so many pillars,
So little water and so little favor.

It’s an American story if there ever was one.
“If you’ve got your self-respect, you can live anyplace.
Follow your love, break your heart,
Leave your city, live in space.”

Some nights, when she’ll be sleeping,
I’ll look out on the moonful night.
Here comes the front on the Illinois horizon,
Like the Cascades, so high and white.
And I may hear some night bird singing,
Singing in full-throated ease,
Here comes the wind across the prairie,
Colder than any Pacific breeze.