Green Heart - Darrell Scott

I met her years ago one summer

She was working at a church camp up the Boulder River

It was the first time I felt that aching wonder

It was the first time I felt I want to quiver

I went home for summer football

She went back to Fallon County

She was the only thing I thought about

Every minute every day

I tried to write her letters

I tried to keep her near me

But every time she wrote back

She was was farther away

I played my last game in a loss against White Sulphur

I went home that night

And I got ready for a ride

Packed some clothes and some blankets in a thirty gallon garbage bag

Was out before the daylight

With the barn door open wide

From Stanford down through Harlow

Past Baker to the North Dakota line

I rode my sorrel gelding

And I’ll follow this green heart of mine

Big ponderosas the sweetness of the cottonwoods

Beauty of a sunrise over miles and miles of sage

Antelope and mule deer, white tail, and a touch of fear

A sea of prairie grasses

And a thousand birds of prey

Found pasture for my horse just out of Baker

Took a room there for the night

Washed some clothes, shaved my face

I bought some roses at a florist there next morning

Asked for directions and I rode out to her place

I found her house and tied my pony to a tree

Ran fingers through my hair

As I walked to the door

There she stood, I could see it wasn’t good

She gave a nervous laugh

Said, «what did you come here for?»

From Stanford down through Harlow

Past Baker to the North Dakota line

I rode my sorrel gelding

And I’ll follow this green heart of mine

Stopped at a ranch on Powder River

I’d spend the night there on my way through

I called my father

Said «bring the horse trailer

I wish to God I’d listened to you»

Nineteen days across Montana

There was frost on every morning in that damn November wind

All of my life to do without her

And 400 miles just to turn back again