I like to write the end of a story at the beginning.

It was a dry and thirsty road
That brought us to this place
Grab a chair and sit with me for a while
At the end of these last days

We can talk about the good times
Before the hurtful things
That blew across our lives like a killing wind
A dust storm of broken dreams

Chorus:
When I started out I packed light
That’s not the way I’ll leave here
Your memory is my postcard
A broken heart my souvenir
I never meant to make you cry
I never thought we’d leave this land
The last days of Rancho DeNada
The last days of an old ranch hand

You’ve been asleep for hours now
It must be well past one
I wish I’d never picked up a bottle
Or known another woman

The drought killed the crops in the fields
While we drowned in our pain
A deluge of hatred, whiskey and lies
That fell around us like rain

Bridge:
You spend your life waiting
For something better to come along
And just when that last grain falls
You realize you had it all wrong

Chorus:
When I started out I packed light
That’s not the way I’ll leave here
Your memory is my postcard
A broken heart my souvenir
I never meant to make you cry
I never thought we’d leave this land
The last days of Rancho DeNada
The last days of an old ranch hand

© Kent Newsome and Ronnie Jeffrey