Outside the Nashville city limits, a friend and I did drive
On a day in early winter, I was glad to be alive
We went to see some friends of his, who lived upon a farm
Strange and gentle country folk, who wished nobody harm
Fresh-cut sixty acres, eight cows in the barn
But the thing that I remember, on that cold day in December
Was that my eyes they did brim over, as we talked.
In the slowest drawl I had ever heard, the man said "Come with me,
As we walked.
And standing there with outstretched arms, he said to me "You know,
I can't wait till the heavy storms, cover the ground with snow,
And there on the pond the watercress, is all that don't turn white,
When the sun is high you squint your eyes, and look at the hills so bright."
And nodding his head my friend said, "It seems like overnight,
That the leaves come out so tender, at the turning of the winter"
I thought the skies they would brim over, as we talked.