north dakota - Chris Knight

Been snowin all day when I got home

The fire was out the cabin was cold

And I poured some stale coffee from the pot

The longer I waited the snow got higher

Had to split some wood and build a fire

If she told me she’d be gone I forgot

I’d seen it snow that hard before

I couldn’t see the cabin from the stable door

And that mare she always rode was in the stall

The law couldn’t come till the weather broke

My heart was poundin in my throat

And I searched and called her name till it was raw

I never should have brought her here

Livin’s rough this time of year

Tryin to keep food and fire till winters done

Sometimes she’d gaze across the plains

With a look that I couldn’t name

And I’d wonder if she’d stay till springtime comes

I found her on the first warm day

The rain had washed the snow away

Gone for wood and lost her way back home

And I ain’t the kind believes in ghosts

But some nights I get pretty close

When the North Dakota winter moans

When the North Dakota winter moans