It's knowing you don't try to bind my freedom with some promise made of gold
That for you my door stays open and our love becomes a simple to A street
And it's knowing we're not shacked by forgotten words and bons
And the ink stains that have dried upon some line
That keeps you on the back roads by the rivers of my mem'ry
That keeps you ever gentle on my mind

It's not clinging to the rocks and I'd be planted on their columns now that bind us
Or something that somebody said because they thought we fit together walking
It's just knowin' that the world will not be cursin' or forgivin'
When I'm driftin' through the market place and find
That you're moving on the back roads by the rivers of my mem'ry
And for hours you're just gentle on my mind

Though the wheet fields and the clothes lines
And the junk yards and the highways come between us
And some other woman cryin' to her mother cause she turned and you were gone
I still might walk for hours tears of joy might stain my face
And a summer sun might burn me till I'm blind
But not to where I cannot see you movin' on the back roads
By the rivers flowin' gentle on my mind

The shadows freek in the autumn winds that make me draw inside myself in silence
Cross legged now I sit and watch the endless chase of leaves across my yard
And layin' down my hair brush I lean back within my window seat and find
That you're movin' on the back roads by the rivers of my mem'ry
Evrer smiling ever gentle on my mind