Shadow Highway

Alone, he rides the Shadow Highway        

Black tar road ‘gainst a sky of gray

A lonesome man on a lonesome road      

Traveling light, with a heavy load.   

Once he’d been certain his freedom lay    

Just down the road a little way.                               

So he packed his gear and grabbed his gun       

Drove his truck towards the golden sun.    

But the sun’s a way of stayin’ ahead                      

And yellow melts into bright red                              

Slips from the sky without a trace   

Revealing darkness behind its face.                      

Wanting to forget black times before         

Thought it left behind the closed blue door.           

Woman with no heart can’t feel the pain    

Woman like that can’t treasure rain.                      

But Shadow Highway’s got rules of its own          

Shows no mercy for a fool alone.                                                   

A straight yellow line does no explaining               

Switch on the wipers without complaining.

A cigarette can be a man’s best friend                 

When night rolls on without an end,            

Along a road that will not bend,      

When there are no lights, don’t have to pretend.  

With a flick, he tosses the butt away                      

And looks ahead toward another day.                   

Ghosts from the past don’t ride away                    

They travel along the Shadow Highway.