[Verse 1]
It's knowing that your door is always open
And your 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 back roads by the rivers of my memory
That keeps you ever gentle on my mind

[Verse 2]
It's not clinging to the rocks and ivy
Planted on their columns now that binds me
Or something that somebody said
Because they thought we fit together walking
It's just knowing that the world will not be cursing or forgiving
When I walk along some railroad track and find
That you're moving on the back roads 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's cryin' to her mama
'Cause you turned and I was gone
I still run in silence, tears of joy might seal my fate
And summer sun might burn me 'til I'm blind
But not to where I cannot see you
Walkin' on the back roads, by the rivers flowing gentle on my mind
[Outro]
Gentle on my mind
Gentle on my mind
Gentle on my mind