My daddy sent me off to Baton Rouge in nineteen-sixty-nine He said our love was like a forest fire and he'd end it with the miles So you rode with us to Temple, Texas where I did catch the train I remember waving back at you through a silted window pane I said,"Fare thee well true love of mine." I said,"Fare thee well, sweet lips of wine". And you said,"Fare thee well my Texas rose." And then you blew a kiss of innocence as the train began to roll So long ago You'd gone off to fight the war when I returned from school I traded in my innocence when the springtime came to bloom I married for my family one night I dreamed of you And you were running from me in the rain down on Congress Avenue I saw you once in a crowded bar it was Christmas time I was frightened by the thunder of our hearts in sixty-nine Because I live my life in whispers now and I choose to live alone So I slipped back to the Avenue and flipped my collar to the cold Where did we go? That long ago? So long ago