The Afternoon

How she loved

the dawn's golden colors

brushed on the tree-arched

vestibule

Alone, she'd go out dancin'

'cross the quilt of morning dew

Had a soul for risin' early

and a heart for leavin' soon

Oh how she loved the morning

so God took her in the afternoon

Her prayers spilled over

earth and water

kissed the snow fields

and climbed the hills,

cracked the mountains of Virginia,

touched the hem of Jesus' will

Yes sweet daybreak was a lover

but he could not heal her wound

Oh how she loved the morning

so God took her in the afternoon

Today the wind's a little colder

The sun drifts 'cross a pallid sky

and the land is full of shadows

cast by dark clouds passing by

In my dreams I see her laughing

In the mist she's still at play

so each morning I go lookin'

for the child who could not stay

Now she fills

the fallow green fields

with a memory-laced perfume

Oh how she loved the morning

so God took her in the afternoon