Outside the Nasville city limits

A friend and I did drive

On a day in early winter

I was glad to be alive.



We went to see some friends of his

Who lived upon a farm

Strange and gentle country folk

Who wished nobody harm

Fresh-cut sixty acres

Eight cows in the barn.



But the thing that I remember

On that cold day in December

Was that my eyes they did brim over

As we talked.



In the slowest drawl Ive ever heard

The man said come with me

If yall wanne see the prettiest place

In all of Tennessee.



He poured us each a glass of wine

And a-walking we did go

Along fallen leaves and crackling ice

Where a tiny brook did flow

He know every inch of the land

And Lord he loved it so.



But the thing that I remember

On that cold day in December

Was that my eyes were brimming over

As we walked.



He set me down upon a stone

Beside a running spring

He talked in a voice so soft and clear

Like the waters I heard sing.



He said we searched quite a time

For a place to call our own

There was just me and Mary John.

And now I guess were home

I looked at the ground and wondered

How many years they each had roamed.



And Lord I do remember

On that day late December

How my eyes kept brimming over

As we talked

As we walked.



And standing there with outstreched arms

He said to me you know

I cant wait till the heavy storms

Cover the ground with snow.



And there on the pond the water-cress

Is all that dont turn white

When the sun is high you squint your eyes

And look at the hills so bright

And nodding his head my friend said

"It seems like overnight

That the leaves come out so tender

At the turning of the winter."

I thought the skies they would brim over

As we talked.



Joan Baez

Copyright 1971 by Chandos Music

ASCAP 3:20