sweet seventeen with a faraway look in her eyes
She said "I feel  like a bird  in a cage
But come September  I'm flying away"
I said "I'm gonna miss you"  then i made her
promise to write

Since we were tall as the corn  in the spring
We shared   every secret, shared  every dream
So anxious to grow  in the new summer  rain
And bloom like a rose on the Calico Plains

How could she hear as we laughed  on that  warm summer night
The tiny  beart of the baby she carried inside
I stood beside her when September came
Watched her get married  and caught the bouquet
And like  those  hand me down dresses she gave me
I made hger dreams mine

From a seat by  the window on  wings made of steal
I stared at the patchwork over the fields
Where young tears that once fell like warm  summer rain
Were turning to snow on the Calico Plains

Sweet Abilena looks out at the  midwestern sky
Closer to thirty but farther away in her eyes
She holds  her babies liek she holds her dreams
Each night  she kisses and rocks them to sleep while
She reads the letters she makes me promise to write

Sweet Abilene looks out at the midwestern sky