Only thing left to do ...

by Pat Darnell

Only thing left
Is quit breathing
‘din I’ll be dead
Bless’ed dead

I believe in miracles
Yes I believe
I kin see d’ light houses
E’en tho I’m blind

I hear you breathe
I kin hear you breathe

Tho you don’ know it
N’ I dream

Only thing is
... about bein’ brave
If I quit d’ dreamin’
I’d forgit to breathe
Yes sir, I’d shore be afraid

I met a legless boot maker
He’s drunk allus time, sure was,
he’s drunk all week
sewed me t’ last pair of boots
... I’d ever need

Din I worked
Peeling bark off logs
Enuff to git a horse
It threw me off

I’d been sore lost
I bin lost in a bog
Till dis bogtrotter find me
‘Don’t die on me,’ he said

Guess I ain’t gonna die now
Cuz’ I din’t die then

He gave me this here
Harmonick’ee
We hitched our way
allus t' Missour’ee

Dat bogtrotter tol’ me
Dat’ he had no teeth
I tol’ him I can’t see

Winter in d’ Ozark,
... weren’t too nice
Spint winter
... in lots of ice
I lost the rest
... of my sight
Dat’ bogtrotter left
... one frozen night

But din my luck split
what I find me Missy Miss:
She took best care of us
I called her my Pony X-spress

We caught three trains
All the way to Milwaukee
Pony, she got real sick
In our boxcar trip
... couldn't walk it

One night
... couldn’t hear her breathe
After she’d gone to sleep
Now I got
... too many promises
That I can’t keep

I got no money
No town is mine
Only this mouth harp
And I is blind

I will tell you this:
Every town I gwane tho’
I has a witness, ya’ know
Someone always there

Allus’ helps me around
One was my Pi’ony X-press
Yep, one in every town ...
z'ares somm'ere a princess
I giv'in you a witness
... in every rapturous town