The hardest rain was firing down all the night that our love ran Man did it fall like nails to the ground I saw your face beneath that old moon smiling bold as the dawn How did it shine despite this crumbling world I heard the timberwolves out there howling a lonely old song That rag upon the leaves. Those notes I will never forget The days begin to slide like mud from the cold winter slopes The nights played to the black birds in my beard And in the days played to the grey ones Up in the canyons where we used to make love Far from the city streets Tear drops falling like blood from her eyes She said things will never blow our way again The wind blew slow through the aching pines And rolled around her beautiful hair And she said, No, man. I'll never be your wife. and I got a man who wants to kill you. Went east from the ocean into pepperwood Layed in the orchard with the rotting fruit Drinking cans of beer all afternoon, sometimes late Before the sun got too old, I saw a dust cloud rising up across a field Into the forest with the cold moss and mold From behind me I heard the pounding of earth And I went on into that black hole Ran all night like a small town dog until the muddy slew met the tide And upon me I smelled the whisky and cold sweat
And he began to kill me dead My legs were sinking in the silt and mud My chest to the rising tide With hi sboot on my shoulder and his pistol to my chest He took my life In a flash, I recall how the dawn used to come Goodbye love, I may see you again But probably not for a long while All young men sleep easy In the mud beneath the midnight rain All love flows to the ocean Without a trail or trace All young men sleep easy In the mud beneath the midnight rain All love flows to the ocean With a smile upon my still face