It's knowin' that your door is always open
And your path is free to walk
That makes me tend to leave my sleepin' bag
Rolled up and stashed behind your couch

And it's knowin' I'm not shackled by
Forgotten words or bonds
And the ink stains that have dried upon some lines
That keeps me on the back roads by the rivers of my memory
Where I was just gentle on my mind

It's not clingin' to the rocks and ivy
Planted on their columns now that binds me
Or somethin' that somebody said
Because they thought we fit together walkin'

It's knowin' that the world will not be cursin' or forgivin'
When I walk along some railroad track and find
That you're movin' on the back roads
By the rivers of my memory
For hours you're just gentle on my mind

Although the wheat fields and the clotheslines
And the junkyards and the highways come between us
I saw a little woman cryin' to her mother
She turned and I was gone

I still might run in silence, tears of joy might stain my face
And the summer sun might burn me 'til I'm blind
But not to where I cannot see you walkin' on the back roads
By the rivers flowin' gentle on my mind

Well, I tip my cup of soup back from the gurglin'
Cracklin' cauldron in some train yard
My beard as rough as a coal pile
And a dirty hat pulled low across my face

Through cupped hands around a tin can
I pretend to hold you to my breast and find
That you're wavin' from the back roads
By the rivers of my memory
Ever smilin', ever gentle on my mind