Calico Plains

Sweet Abilena looked out at the midwestern sky

Sweet seventeen with a far away look in her eyes.

She said "I feel like a bird in a cage,

"But come September I'm flying away."

I said "I'll miss you," then I made her promise to write

Since we were tall as the corn in the spring

We shared every secret, shared every dream

So anxious to grow in the new summer rain

And bloom like a rose on the calico plains

How could she hear as we laughed on that long summer night

The tiny heart of the baby she carried inside

I stood beside her when September came

Watched her get married, then caught the bouquet

And like those hand-me-down dresses she gave me

I made her dreams mine

From a seat by the window on wings made of steel

I stared at the patchwork over the fields

Where young tears that once flowed like warm summer rain

Were turning to snow on the calico plains

Sweet Abilena looks out at the midwestern sky

Closer to thirty, but farther away in her eyes

She holds her babies like she holds her dreams

Each night she kisses and rocks them to sleep

While she reads the letters she makes me promise to write

Sweet Abilena looks out at the midwestern sky