TENNEE, MAMA, & DESIREE

Desiree rides the highway like tomorrow’s the end of the race
With men in her rearview, like roadkill with grins on their face
And the road is an old friend with curves that she knows she can take
And the wind whips her face like a hot shower after a mistake
She says, “Love is for being reborn or for waiting to die”
She hadn’t touched it in years -- she still remembers the tears

Tennee was named for a place he still never has seen
Where the tops are all rocky and the pastures a little more green
And where his Mama was born and returned to when Tennee was four
At daybreak one morning with a kiss and a note on the door
It said, “I’m sorry for going, but the sky’s just too big for me here
My heart’s buried in snow, and I’m dying for home”

Tennee grew fast and grew strong and grew hungry and mean
With his Pa in Montana where the milk and the honey was weened
And he grew without guidance from home or from heaven above
And he drifted towards danger and towards strangers who might fill him with love
But the edge got too narrow til it dropped like the blade of his knife
Ironic enough, the judge said “sentenced to life”

Desiree left from Westby, she’d been there as long as she dared
A week and a half, and til the man with the strong fingers cared
She was doin ‘bout sixty when a letter flew up from the floor
She read it, and sped up, and tossed it for the wind to endure
It said, “Darlin I love you, and darlin I’m with you
Though I know I won’t see you again
I’ll think of you often, remember you dearly
And I hope you find peace in the end”

Tennee liked the roadwork cause the air always struck him as free
And his vision could drift from the ground where the guards said to be
And though the crew was always changing, they were family if just for a time
Cause there’s nothing like capture for a man to release what’s inside
And while Tennee was dreamin, his cellmate pulled a note from the weeds
And with a gulp and a glance, he slipped it into his pants

When they got back for lockdown, Tennee’s cellmate pulled a slip from the bars
He said “I guess while we’s out there, this letter has come from your ma”
Tennee was shakin, he sat back, said “Read it to me --
School was never my thing, and my eyes are too tired to see”
It said, “Darlin I love you, and darlin I’m with you
Though I know I won’t see you again
I’ll think of you often, remember you dearly
And I hope you find peace in the end”

Tennee was up as the sun first rustled the leaves
Cause there ain’t never knowing just the first light and the faith to believe
Peace of mind ain’t security, it’s learning to face the mistakes
It’s still unsettling to wonder, in jail, who’ll be there when you wake
You know scars don’t heal pretty but forgiveness can soften their pain
Like a kiss on the head, from a ghost left for dead.