Red River Refrain

Painting by Lorna Dillon

Red River Refrain


From this valley they say you are going
We shall miss your bright eyes and sweet smile
For they say you are taking the sunshine
that has brightened our lives for awhile.

Now you’re riding the herd before sunrise
Cold biscuits and reheated dregs
Working the flank and swallowing dust
and prayin’ your bets have been hedged.

And by the time the day ends in shadow
You’re sweating and stiff and near gone,
So tired there’s no taste in the beans Cookie’s made
and you sleep in the clothes you have on.

When the herd’s settled down to a millin',
And the early crew’s longin’ for sleep,
Then a heavy hand falls on your shoulder.
Nighthawk, it’s your watch to keep.

All alone with the starlight and music
of the guitar that old Ruby plays,
Do your thoughts wander back to Red River
and the maiden who begged you to stay?

Come and sit by my side ere you leave me.
Do not hasten to bid me adieu
But remember this Red River Valley
and the maiden who waits here for you.

When the silence of night wraps around you
in those witching hours three until dawn,
does the empty and lonely surround you
cold and chill, like a lost lover’s arms?
v Do you think of her then and remember
gentle hands, loving eyes, shinning hair?
And do you open the clasp of your watch case
to touch the soft chestnut curl nestled there?

You have chosen the trail you now follow,
your way made bright by the bridges you’ve burned.
But a part of your heart’s stayed behind you,
in the arms of a love that you’ve spurned.

Did you ever return to Red River?
to that girl who was sure you’d come home?
Or did you live out you life in a saddle
on a trail headed West, all alone.

Jo Lynne Kirkwood © Copyright