On the Road with My Old Man

Looking ahead beyond the highs and lows
I just now realize I don’t have far to go
Now that I know what to look for and see 
There ain’t much more can up and surprise me
Rocks in my path have mostly crumbled away
But nothing is smooth in this life anyway

I’m taking my next step on this road today

Looking back now I see lots of things
I bound up tight in my own steel chains
Crippled by memory and the passage of years
I’ve mostly forgotten all my young fears
I listened to him, though he mostly had little to say 
But his words ring true in my ears to this day

Take that first step now, boy, it’s always today

Today is too late to wish you’d done different
It’s always regrets gets etched deep in cement
You can’t make promises you’ll never keep
The pool of sorrows is always chin deep
It’s a good thing now and then to look up and thank God
But it ain’t up to Him to give you that first prod

Your road belongs to you, boy, no matter the odds

Hit the road, Jack, there ain't no turning back
Don’t come crawling when you come under attack
Make your own way you owe no one a thing
Don’t let no one give that bell the last ring 
Be a man when the hard times come around
It’s your hide you gotta stand your own ground

Your road’s what you make it, boy, weak or sound

His words have followed me through all my today's
He still walks beside me though we long parted ways
I see him sometimes when I look to the skies
My old man, deeply flawed, deeply wise
I held his hand when he found the end of his road
When his gray eyes went dim and his skin turned cold

His road was mine and all its today's

I stopped for a bite at an inn by the road
She said where you bound, or are you going alone
I’ve been alone myself, since my man up and left
This old lunch counter makes me sad and bereft
I need someone to love me going the same way
My road’s gonna end, I don’t care how, someday

My road’s gonna end, but please, God, not today

She packed us some food, some beer, and her dog
I asked her his name and she said it’s just Dog
We left the lunch counter shuttered and closed
The key in the lock and a note that read it’s all yours
We headed for the West where everyone goes
The end of all roads as everyone knows

Into the sunset, where everyone goes