Billy from the Hills

No one now knows too much about these woods
They got lost, they wouldn't know where to go
Tribe's been gone a long time, small farmers got blowed out
Maybe there ain't even that much left to know
You can strip the trees, foul the streams, try to hide in a progressive dream
Ease into the comfort that kills
Before I do that, I'll grab my pack
And disappear with Billy from the hills

Blood flows back and back and back and back
Like a river from a secret source
I feel it wild in me; I pitched my camp
At the fork where knowledge meets remorse
Women sing in me that song from the ancient fire
I just open my mouth and what comes out gives me chills
I got my song from a secret place
I got my face from Billy from the hills

A 40-inch barrel on that shotgun
Steel traps in a cane pack on his back
Eighteen years old, surrounded by the Ozarks
Ain't one little bit of that boy that's slack
If you're looking for a helping hand
He'll give you one, you know he will
If you're looking for trouble, huh-uh, turn around
You don't want to mess with Billy from the hills

Some folks dance cool, all angles and swaying hips
Sensual as all get out and in
Me, I'm a hick, and I dance like one
I just kind of jump around and grin
I know a guy, he doesn't dance too much
But when he does, he gives everyone a thrill
You might run away or suck it up and stay
When he dances, Billy from the hills

There's a lantern lit on a Missouri night
A woman writing poems by a stove
She knows the fox's whereabouts by knoll, by gulch, by yelp
As he runs at night through her mother love
Her memory to me is like watercress from a spring-fed stream
Fresh and aching as a mockingbird's trill
She lives in me; I try to look until
I can see for her and her boy, Billy from the hills

It's a drifting time, people are fascinated by screens
No idea what's on the other side
We stare at doom like an uptight groom
And live our lives like a drunken bride
Tonight I feel something on the wind
Deep inside where we have to die or kill
Something I know I didn't know I knew
I learned from Billy from the hills