(Matraca Berg&Mike Noble)



Sweet Abilena looked out at the midwestern sky

Sweet seventeen with a far away look in her eyes.

She said "I feel like a bird in a cage,

"But come September I'm flying away."

I said "I'll miss you," then I made her promise to write



Since we were tall as the corn in the spring

We shared every secret, shared every dream

So anxious to grow in the new summer rain

And bloom like a rose on the calico plains



How could she hear as we laughed on that long summer night

The tiny heart of the baby she carried inside

I stood beside her when September came

Watched her get married, then caught the bouquet

And like those hand-me-down dresses she gave me