Montana

My father gave me Montana
No matter where I go it carries me
When I look inside I see, Montana

He took us up there where he said a man still had a chance
To the alkali flats and the mud of a hard scrabled range
My mother’s mouth got thin and hard
And the sage grew up around the edge of the yard
I learned how to cuss and how to spit like a man
I learned the way dreams can slip through your hands

Montana

My father gave me Montana
No matter where I go it carries me
When I look inside I see, Montana

Summers we'd wade in the ditch by the old county road
And the birds would flutter and shriek from the telephone pole
To the wind in the cottonwoods soft and gold
We heard the ghosts of the Souix and the Crow
So much left unsaid between Father and Son
We packed up and left there in seventy one

Montana

My father gave me Montana
No matter where I go it carries me
When I look inside I see,

Montana

My father gave me Montana
And though I am all I'll ever be
Comes from this gift he gave to me

Montana

Montana