Tracks After the Rain

The first smell of rain
Across that summer grass
Takes me back to my youth
To a page out of my past
I think about my granddad
He taught me about the land
Oh, how I loved that man
See there's red ant mounds
And rock hard ground
And old tractors gone to rust
Arrowheads in river beds
And red West Texas dust
But nothin' ever stays the same
Just our memories
Everything gets washed away
Like tracks after the rain
There's an old abandoned farmhouse
In the hills just west of town
It's got a windmill aeromotor
There's some blades and fallin' down
And the fences all need mendin'
The wells have all gone dry
The city inches closer
With each day that passes by
The sun dips low into the western sky
Take a deep cool breath
Let it slip out as a sigh
Oh, there's so many things
That remind me of those days
Old King Cole
And swimming holes
And ten cent matinees
Drivin' down that rutted lane
To the road that went to town
Where has it all gone now?
And I'd like to go back somehow
To the red ant mounds
And rock hard ground
And old tractors gone to rust
Prickly pears and double dares
And lightning bugs and dust
But nothin' ever stays the same
Just our memories
Everything gets washed away
Like tracks after the rain
Nothin' stays the same
Old tire swings hung from a tree with rope
Washin' up with Ivory soap
Playin' in the rain soaked to the bone
Please can I keep him, he just followed me home