"He told me he’s afraid to die in Texas.Says the roads here go on forever,and he thinks he might..."

“He told me he’s afraid to die in Texas.

Says the roads here go on forever,

and he thinks he might get lost

somewhere on I-45.

He wasn’t a brave man,

but he was a wise one.

And I’ve noticed how that the brave men

keep dying, and the wise men keep talking

‘bout what it means to be brave.

He said “they call it heart-in-mouth,

‘cause your heart, at least,

has the good sense to get outta there.”

Now, I was never half as delicate

or tender as I was supposed to be.

And I am no wiseman, but best I can tell

it’s us cowards who stay standing.

It’s the ones who take off running

who find their way back home.

It ain’t profound,

it’s a goddamn tragedy–

that the best of us wind up buried

and the rest of us

go walking wild-eyed down the road.”

- The Roads in Texas, by Ashe Vernon