Hands Like Rain - James McMurtry

Slowly crawling 'cross the floor

Comes a shadow through the window

From the house next door

And the dust specks dancing

In the last of the light

One more evening passing

She walked on tiptoes

On a gravel bar

Wet skin pale as the evening star

The North Platte winding like a silver eel

Hands like rain on August fields

Hands like rain

Falling soft

To ease the drought inside

As memory fades

Not much remains

But hands like rain

Now I stand on stiff legs

And I clutch the cane

And I search the sky for a sign of rain

As if it matters

As if it makes a damn

Just an old man’s habit

Down the street

The schoolboys play

Dime novel heroes from another day

Who now are nothing more than faceless names

And a nameless face with hands like rain

We’d run by night

And we’d hide by day

So the papers used to say

On stolen horses and borrowed time

Dancing girls and brandy wine

I can hear them calling

They’re calling me

I can here them calling

But I still can’t see

Life and legend are an awkward pair

And there ain’t much magic anywhere

Except in moments we can’t often steal

Hands like rain on August fields