In a southern town where I was born That's where I got my education
I worked in the fields and I walked in the woods And I wondered at creation
I recall the sun in a sky of blue And the smell of green things growing
And the seasons changed and I lived each day Just the way the wind was blowing
Then I heard of a cultured city life Breathtaking lofty steeples
And the day I called myself a man I left my land and my people
And I rambled north and I rambled east And I tested and I tasted
And a girl or two took me round and round But they always left me wasted
In a world that's all I know
Full of concrete and steel With nothing green ever growing
Where the buildings hide the rising sun And they block the free wind from blowing
Where you sleep all day and you wake all night To a world of drink and laughter
I met that girl that I was sure would be mine
The one that I was after
In a soft blue gown and a formal tux Beneath that lofty steeple
He said, Do you, Barbara, take this man?
Will you be one of his people?
And she said, I will And she said, I do
And the world looked mighty pretty And we lived in a fancy house

fancy downtown flat cause she loved the noisy city but the days grew cold beneath the yellow sky
and the long for green things growing and i talked of home and my people there
but she had not agreed to go in then her hazel eyes turned away from me
with a look that wasn't pretty and she turned into concrete and steel and she said i'll take
the city now the cars go by on the interstate
and
And my pack is on my shoulder
But I'm going home where I belong
Much wiser now and older
© transcript Emily Beynon