September Song

The wild geese flew overhead in Pennsylvania
I thought of a few choice words I ought to send you
You know if I thought it was right
I'd pretend that you were here with me tonight

The ghost of a frontier lady walked through the tall rooms
Of an old Ontario farmhouse under a full moon
We sat in the kitchen all night
Drinking good whiskey until the morning light

Did you ever think I would go
Out on this road you told me I would take
Long ago

On a Roanoke back-road, laughing beside a cold stove
We sang for old black Francis and Bessie, songs about true love
All the songs I ever knew
Came back to me and brought me back to you

The leaves were turning, we felt the summer passing
Knowing things were changing, even without asking
Like a photograph faded in time
In a cabin lost in the Blue Ridge mountain pines

The wind is blowing cold across the bay
And Massachusetts seems so far away
From the California tides
The rolling hills and roads I used to ride

I'll be leaving in the morning, seeing faces
Of friends I leave behind in all these places
And though I'm coming home
I'm not coming back to California all alone

You always knew I would go
Out on this road you took yourself once
So long ago