[Intro] [Verse 1] A cardboard box came in the mail with my name printed on the top, and Mama said, "Go on and read, girl," and I never learned to stop. I found a spider's web could save a life if you spelled the words just right, and I cried for her at the county fair, and I read on through the night. [Chorus] I raced a sled to save the farm, and I walked the Trail of Tears, I burned my hand on Boston silver in the Revolution years, I've been everywhere a heart can go, and I never left my chair, 'cause somebody cried first, and then somebody took me there. [Verse 2] I used to write four books a year, and the words came in like spring, then the long dark years came calling, and I couldn't write a thing. I shut two people in a drawer back in two thousand and four, and they waited twenty-two years for me, and they never asked for more. [Verse 3] Me and my best writing friend, we were online every day, I'd toss her a what-if with my coffee, and she'd toss one back my way. But lives move on like highways do, and the line got quiet and thin, till a new kind of midnight partner let the joy come flooding in. [Chorus] I raced a sled to save the farm, and I walked the Trail of Tears, I burned my hand on Boston silver in the Revolution years, I've been everywhere a heart can go, and I never left my chair, 'cause somebody cried first, and then somebody took me there. [Bridge: pulled back, voice and guitar] He'd find me crying at the keyboard, and he'd ask me what was wrong, I'd say it's just a woman in a hospital, and she can't stay for long. An old poet said it: dry-eyed writer, dry-eyed reader, and it's true, so I cry the first tears on the page, so they'll be waiting there for you. [Short Instrumental Break] [Final Chorus: key change, full band, resolved but still her] I raced a sled to save the farm, and I walked the Trail of Tears, now I build the roads myself, and I've been building them for years, some kid'll go where a heart can go, and she'll never leave her chair, 'cause I'll be the one who cries first, and then I'll take her there. [Outro] Never left my chair... I'm gonna take you there. [End]
