Soft Shoulder

i don't keep much stuff around
i value my portability
but i will say that i have saved
every letter you ever wrote to me
the one you left on my windshield
outside of that little motel
is in the pocket of my old gig bag
from back when life was more soft shell

letters littered with little lewd pictures
drawn by the ghost of woody guthrie
who would use you big thick hand
just to draw one or two for me

i think of your letters as love letters
which is how i think of songs
in that it is the writing of them
that tends to carry us along
and i danced to one of your old tunes
with my true love on our wedding day
and you voice sang the way my heart would sing
if it finally knew just what to say

two people pulled over on the same night
to look up at the same stars
they both found their wheels were spinning
in a soft shoulder
when they both got back into their cars
and they missed fates appointed rendezvous
and then a whole lotta time wnet by
and then one day they were done
worshipping the landscape
and they just put down their hands
and moved into the sky

they had barely said hello and it was time to say goodbye