He died with his boots on
in another man's bed
The way he once said it would be
He's a scoundrel, I guess,
just got what was due
But he was always a good friend to me
He talked of a girl he'd known long ago
His eyes welled with tears
when he tried to explain
How the sound of her voice
had made him feel whole
And the smell of her skin,
like sage after rain
Like sage after rain
I'd go to East Colfax with
one of my friends
Back in high school for something to do
And that's where I met him
when he bought us some beer
A six -pack if he could have two
He said, come back to my place
you can drink it there safe
don't worry it's cool
then he gave us his name
i paused at a picture
and he told me about her
and the smell of her skin
like sage after rain
Like sage after ray,
like sage after ray
I'd go to his house
and we'd talk bulk for hours
Pacing the floor
as he'd quote from his head
There's an old royal typewriter,
a desk by a window,
Three novels in boxes under his bed.
A drafty old house,
his grandfather'd left him,
He grew up in Boston,
came west on a train.
The snow -covered front range,
and a lovely young teacher,
The smell of her skin,
like sage after rain,
Like sage after rain
Like sage after rain
She was killed in the wreck
that left him half broken
He told me about it one
time and that's all
Some people said it'd help
if she was driving
He said that made less
than no difference at all.
He'd talk of her beauty,
her ice and her fire.
He'd smile when he'd
call her broad
with great brains.
But there was always respect,
and his memories were tender
in the smell of her skin,
like sage after rain,
like sage after rain,
like sage after rain.
They called me about him early one mornin'
I made the arrangements
that sent him to burn
No wife, no children, no next of kin there
Like it said in his will,
they gave me the urn
I drove north to Wyoming
in a late April drizzle
A place where we'd hunted
on the Antelope Plains
I spread him about in the place he'd chosen
A prayer and a breath of sage after rain
Sage after rain, sage after rain
You