Iowa Paint

Coming home from a wedding this weekend in Iowa, we came upon this quaint old barn, that was just begging from someone to tell its story, to capture the lines and the lost era of it's character.

I wrote a song once, with a barn just like this in my mind....

I've been driving this old highway,
so long I could drive it blind.
Another crazy day and I swear,
I'm gonna lose my mind.

There's a deadline on Friday,
enough work in my breifcase
to keep me goin' all night long.
How am I gonna find the time
to right all I have wronged?

There's a tune on the radio,
a song I used to know,
but I can't remember yesterday,
let alone how it goes.

And there's cars all around me.
Everybody's in a hurry to pass.
Lookin' in my rearview mirror
and don't you know I'm out of gas.

Grab everything I own
and start walkin' on down the road.
The problems in my head
make this breifcase an easy load.

And off to my right, somethin' catches my eye,
there's a woman standing in the field
with her hands upon her thighs.

And this old red barn
with the doors falling down.
The shadows strike acrossed the grain
and fall down to the ground.

And there I am home again,
this window to my past.
Never have I seen this place.
I guess I always just drove too fast.

Dad's comin' down the old dirt lane
in his beat up, ran down Ford.
My brother's playin' Old John Wayne,
and me, with my wooden sword.

And Momma's on the front porch swingin'
beneath the backdrop of the western skies.
Lookin' deep into our souls,
she's got the love of Jesus in her eyes.

And I'm Home again.
I don't know where I've been,
but I'm Home, Home again.

As the twilight fades
I realize what I've learned today.
It's not where the road goes,
it's what you find along the way.


Dan Elliott.

Funny, I wrote that song years ago, and the words are still there in my mind, waiting to be unlocked....by the picture of this old, red barn. :)