Calico Plains

Sweet Abilena looked out at the Midwestern sky Sweet seventeen with a far away look in her eyes She said "I feel like a bird in a cage but come September I'm flying away" I said, "I'll miss you", then I made her promise to write Since we were tall as the corn in the spring We shared every secret, shared every dream So anxious to grow in the new summer rain And bloom like a rose on the Calico Plains How could she hear as we laughed on that long summer night The tiny heart of the baby she carried inside I stood beside her when September came Watched her get married, then caught the bouquet And like those hand-me-down dresses she gave me I made her dreams mine From a seat by the window on wings made of steel I stared at the patchwork over the fields Where young tears that once flowed like warm summer rain Were turning to snow on the Calico Plains Sweet Abilena looks out at the Midwestern sky Closer to thirty, but farther away in her eyes She holds her babies like she holds her dreams Each night she kisses and rocks them to sleep While she reads the letters she makes me promise to write Sweet Abilena looks out at the Midwestern sky