When The Dust Settled (an old cowboy song)

When the dust settled,

And the stampede faded away,
I was left alone in the draw,
Watching the sunlight fade.

It's long and harsh,
This forlorn land.
There's little in the way
Of homesteader mercy,
And what a man has,
He takes with his two hands.

When the dust settled,
And she was lowered in her grave,
I was left alone on the plains,
Shivering by my campfire, alone, afraid.

You know how good guys,
Become bad men?
How brittle, bright red hearts
Become old and gray?
It's because of love, dove;
The love of a woman like you.

When the dust settled,
As the folk went and as they came,
I was left alone in the city,
Holding only my old hat, and my new shame.

It's colder at night,
I guess you could say,
When you've got a hard bed,
Ancient, endless horizons;
All misguided gullies
And absent plains.

When the dust settled,
And I saw it was settled in vain,
I was left alone in this world,
With only my mistakes.

When the dust settled,
And the aching bone dawn came,
I was reborn in the morning,
Hard and cold, but fully awake. .