Powderfinger

Look out, Mama, there's a white boat coming up the river

With a big red beacon, and a flag, and a man on the rail

I think you'd better call John

Because it don't look like they're here to deliver the mail

And it's less than a mile away

I hope they didn't come to stay

It's got numbers on the side and a gun

And it's making big waves

Daddy's gone, my brother's out hunting in the mountains

Big John's been drinking since the river took Emmy-Lou

So the powers that be left me here to do the thinking

And I just turned twenty-two

I was wondering what to do

And the closer they got

The more those feelings grew

...

Daddy's rifle in my hand felt reassuring

He told me, Red means run, son, numbers add up to nothing

But when the first shot hit the docks I saw it coming

Raised my rifle to my eye

Never stopped to wonder why

Then I saw black

And my face splashed in the sky

...

Shelter me from the powder and the finger

Cover me with the thought that pulled the trigger

Think of me as one you'd never figured

Would fade away so young

With so much left undone

Remember me to my love

I know I'll miss her

...