The Blue Distance - Mary Chapin Carpenter

Across the railroad tracks, down the gravel road

headlights throw a beam on the way back home

lie down, lie down, listen wide awake

to the trains that roll, to the sound time makes

It passes through the air like a summer storm

catching on my sleeve like a roses thorn

sometimes it whispers, sometimes it roars

flies like the wind, waits by the door

And I know you know and that’s all I need

When the light of day looks like night to me

When you’re far away and I’m all alone

I can’t explain, I know you know

It fills up my chest, it fills up my eyes

like an old glass jar filled with fireflies

sometimes I’m still, sometimes I sigh

sometimes I’m lost and I don’t know why

But I know you know and that’s all I need

When the light of day looks like night to me

When you’re far away and I’m all alone

I can’t explain, I know you know

In the morning light, before the heat sets in

call the dogs to run where the shade has been

across the railroad tracks lay your silver down

find it smooth and flat, stars for your crown

In the blue distance where our lives unfurl

at the edges of the sky, the beauty of the world

I know you know and that’s all I need

When the light of day looks like night to me

When we’re far away and we’re all alone

I can’t explain, I know you know