A Nickel Shy – Henry Stewart Songs

My lips are cracked and swollen, worth every single bite
Fried up this here rattlesnake under the glow of the Coleman lamp
The moon ain’t cracked the horizon, see its pale sliver of light
It’s a nickel shy of waning, time to start to break up camp

Just two days on the trail now, the air is thick as stone
Took the back way out the valley, tryin’ to keep away from trouble
That pouch of gold is heavy, on my heart and on my bones
Just two more days of worry, we’ll have enough if we get lucky

Chorus
I left Magnolia back at the lean to, keeping poachers from our claim
If I don’t make it to the city, I spec she’ll go back to sweet Lorraine
We got some land up on the hillside, where the creek runs deep and strong
Sometimes I wonder what we’re doing here, is it right or was it wrong?

The City she is covered with the dust of a thousand men
Every inch of every building looks more like dirt than wood
Make my way down to Wells Fargo, at Market Street and Grant
Pull gold out from my saddlebags and slap it down for good

Got enough to build our house now, took four years and countin’
Can start to rest a little easy, inclined to keep on movin’
The Pony mail just came in, my name is called from deep within
Read the writing on the paper and my eyes can’t see so good

break

There was trouble back at the claim site, Magnolia got took by some crossfire
Says here that they buried her yesterday on account of this damn heat
Got nowhere left to go now, the money feels like nothing
but a ransom I can’t pay, to keep her here with me