Providence, MO

I count my blessings night and morning on a single hand

That lost three fingers chopping timber

when the busted buzzsaw jammed 

So we traveled east to Alabama, for better lives to find 

Toward better homes and better weather

Better unemployment lines 

The Lord blessed us with another boy

attached: a cursed mouth to feed

So little Jack’s been selling bottles 

while Mary Jane plays in the weeds

The frost has come and stayed to conjure 

the crops to dying with the leaves

Now Momma’s sick and baby’s crying 

Eviction man says time to leave again 

So I prayed for gold in Sacramento

but all the gold that I could find 

was the sun reflecting off the bottom

of this empty pan of mine 

They say that gold is just for fools;

but gold will drive a fool insane 

each time you dip your pan

and draw it out as empty as it came 

So I sold my pan and set to gambling 

For luck, I’ve heard, turns on a dime 

I rolled, and won, and filled my hands

then stumbled toward the county line 

He must have seen me throwing sevens 

and snuck up in the dark behind 

He split my skull and took my money

Left me bleeding there to die alone 

Dear Lord, if you recall my baby 

Heaven knows he’ll surely freeze 

Please take him up to over yonder 

If you care a thing for me 

Here I sit and here I ponder 

Laid beneath the dying trees 

My blood has dried me to the gravel 

The earth has wrapped me in her breeze

Still I wait and still I wonder 

Heaven hear my dying plea 

Please take my girl and take my baby 

So they don’t end up like me 

Please take my girl and take my baby

So they don’t end up like me