Drifting Toward Catawba

Floating down the river wide
Let the current do the work
I'm drifting toward Catawba once again
To see old friends who stayed behind
Who constructed families and careers
Dug foundations for their kids
Built a history of the working life

While I made memories and roamed
Through a strange new world
I could never have imagined
And would have never known
Oyster shells in Kansas
Dolphins off the coast

I'm headed back to Carolina where the lights are going out
For years I've been as far away but the growing darkness draws me back
I'm all alone here and there I guess I'll be the same but I'll be home

You can't go back again they say
Hands on the clock don't go that way
Don't look like I did but I feel like I do
Maybe the place I left is like that too

The sun I seek is arcing down
Cross the easy Tarheel sky
Over a place so beautiful and still
The stars at night are echoed by
The sparks of lightning bugs
Gathering in the mystic world
While the waiting cemeteries fill

I left on a summer day
You'd packed your bags and gone
In a huff you left me there
Nothing more to be
I drove out west 'til like you
The road ran out on me

So I'm headed back to Carolina where the lights are going out
For years I've been as far away but the growing darkness draws me back
I'm all alone here - and there I guess I'll be the same but I'll be home

You can't go back again they say
Hands on the clock don't go that way
Don't look like I did but I feel like I do
Maybe the place I left is like that too

I'm floating slow
Between the fields
So lonely now
With no one near
Hoping that you
Might hold me close
I know you're everywhere
You're like a ghost

So I'm headed back to Carolina where the lights are going out
For years I've been as far away but the growing darkness draws me back
I'm all alone here - and there I guess I'll be the same but I'll be home

You can't go back again they say
Hands on the clock don't go that way
Don't look like I did but I feel like I do
Maybe the place I left is like that too