when the playing cards fall
from the poker game of life
in name or in spirit
I'll always call you wife

you watched me live my dreams
as I trapped the river, free
you only caught a fleeting glimpse
of how we used to be

the river shares my life
she is gracious.. that I know
a willow signs your name
in the transit of it's flow

the snow here checks my rage
it qualifies each sound
the deep root of family
unchanged beneath the ground

you left this place too early
but you never left me Lil
your black hair dresses trees
and it rains strong whiskey, still