My Washington Woman

The wages of an unskilled

Working man never paid enough

From time to time, a nickel on a race

Keeps him from giving up

The blue collared man in Seattle

Never lives on white collared street

But there was food on the table

For my Washington woman and me

The work slowed down and then one day

The foreman laid me off

That night in a tavern down to my last dime

I met a girl from Arkansas

Her daddy was a banker in Little Rock

She had a mansion on white collared street

The next morning my Washington woman

Woke up without me

From city to city, and state to state

I grew heavier with shame

My Washington woman had six months left

Before our child would bring her pain

My Arkansas woman hurt me

As we crossed the Arkansas line

But the arms of Seattle

Were the arms that kept hugging mine, mine

For years I have basked in expensive wines

Tasted champagne every day

I gave up all the things I loved

For all these things I hate

Locked up all of her forgiveness

The day I set myself free

And the heart of my Washington woman

Stopped beating for me

My Washington woman sends me

A letter every once in a while

Inside a folded wordless page

Is a picture of my child

All at once, the room grows cold

With a feeling of jealousy

And there's a silence between

My Arkansas woman and me