North Dakota

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