[INTRO - Spoken] I have worked this red dirt country when the grass stood high and the creek ran clear And I have worked it dry when the sun stayed hard and every cloud in the west looked like rain till the wind told it no I have seen cattle prices climb till a man talked proud and watched them fall till the same man prayed out loud I have been thin and I have been flush but morning never asked me which one I was The herd still needed water The fence still leaned The weak still needed watching And the land still asked what my word would mean So I pulled on my boots and saddled the bay and rode toward the trouble at the break of day When something living has been placed in your hand you do not leave the work just because no one understands [VERSE TWO - Spoken] There was a young hand came riding in with a clean new hat and a restless grin He said this country was all he had dreamed wide open sky and a life unbound But the first north wind found every seam and August burned the shine off the dream The work stayed common and the nights stayed long and the life he had pictured did not feel like the song So one cold morning he followed the road and left the owner standing with the weight of the load That is when I learned what the country reveals Some men love the ranch Some men love how it feels [VERSE THREE - Spoken] Folks see a cowboy riding alone and figure solitude must suit his bones But he is not alone because he longs to be He is alone because work does not gather many friends and responsibility waits where the crowd road ends Fantasy fills a room Fantasy draws a crowd It paints the west in gold and fire and makes a foolish man feel proud It wants the hat The horse The stars But not the frozen trough The dying calf Or the scars Fantasy wants a calling that feels like a song but never asks a man to stay very long [VERSE FOUR - Spoken] Do not call that owner self made He never made rain He never grew grass He never taught winter when to pass Yes he worked Yes he stayed But a man cannot make what he cannot sustain He has been kept That is closer to true Kept through drought when the numbers said no Kept through plenty when his pride started to grow The dry years taught him the Lord was near He is not a monument to standing alone He is a man held upright by strength not his own The same hands that measured the rain have carried the ranch and carried his name [VERSE FIVE - Spoken] I reckon a man like that gets forgotten because he married two things that do not let go easy The land and the Lord Neither promised comfort Neither promised applause The land asks if his word can outlast his mood and if he still cares when the outcome is poor And the Lord finds the ground where a man wants escape lays His hand on that place and says Be faithful here Not impressive Not admired Faithful Calling is the ground you cannot leave without losing more than you lose if you stay You might find easier But you would not find rest
