[Verse 1]
It's knowing that your door is always open
And the path is free to walk
That makes me tend to leave my sleeping bag
Rolled up and stashed behind your couch
And it's knowing I'm not shackled
By forgotten words and bonds
And the ink stains that are dried upon some line
That keeps you in the backroads
By the rivers of my memory
Keeps you ever gentle on my mind

[Verse 2]
It's not clinging to the rocks and ivy
Planted on some columns now that binds us
Or something that somebody said
Because they thought we'd fit together walking
It's just knowing that the world will not be cursing
Or forgiving when I'm drifting through the market place and find
That you're moving on the backroads
By the rivers of my memory
And for hours you're just gentle on my mind

[Verse 3]
Though the wheat fields and the clothes lines
And the junkyards and the highways come between us
And some other woman cryin' to her mother
'Cause she turned and you were gone
I still might walk for hours, tears of joy might stain my face
And a summer sun might burn me 'til I'm blind
But not to where I cannot see you movin' on the backroads
By the rivers flowing gentle on my mind
[Verse 4]
Shutters creak in autumn wind
That make me draw inside myself in silence
And just like now I sit and watch
Stay in [?] across my yard
And laying down my hair brush [?]
Back within my window seat and find
That you're moving on in backroads
By the rivers of my memory
Ever smilin' ever gentle on my mind

[Outro]
Gentle on my mind
Gentle on my mind
Gentle on my mind
Gentle on my mind