I’m From Kentucky

I’m from Kentucky…

I grew up loving pocket knives, beagle hounds, dirt roads, and lies that used to be told on the courthouse bench
Fish tales, snake tales, and I swear it’s the truth tales, just ask somebody

I’m from Kentucky…

Where skinny old men crouch with bent shoulders, and close one eye and smoke through toothless stories about days of soldiering

I’m from Kentucky…

Where borrowed laughter flys like lies from under the feathers of a thousand dollar hat, while million dollar horses chase each other to the roar of drunken cheers

I’m from Kentucky…

Where I once walked along Skaggs Creek young and quiet, and gentle days and skipping rocks filled me with loud thoughts and wild dreams and sycamores were left and forgotten

I’m from Kentucky…

So, If I smell hickory burning, biscuits and gravy waiting, kerosene mornings or fescue in the wind
I know that home might be faraway, but it’s not gone, I am

I’m from Kentucky…

So Scotland, Ireland, and Wales chase each other through my veins
They sing, and dance, and love, and fight each other … always have
And one day, they always won’t

I’m from Kentucky…

My Cherokee, Powhatan, and Osage feet
Cause me to walk like I’m sneaking up on something
Before something sneaks up on me… again

I’m from Kentucky…

My family tree branches hang low with the weight of secrets and pain, and still trembles to long ago thunder and by the grace of God
Still buds in the spring… always has, always will

I’m from Kentucky…

Where old dreams stand behind me like weary victims, and some lie still in the smoky shadows of yesterday’s wars
Where memories speak to one another about lost days and forgotten friends

I’m from Kentucky…

I’ve lived on roads that lead to forever but paved with nowhere to be
And if it cost a quarter to go around the world I couldn’t get out of sight, so I danced with stormy winds until I was gone

I’m from Kentucky…

I left 45 years ago as I boarded an outbound dream, to fix the world and walk on water
Now I’d like to lean back in the shade, dip my feet in the creek, and fix me – and tell that sycamore that I didn’t forget…

that I’m from Kentucky.