Pulled up to the house on the hill,

Where the lights shone soft and the air stood still

She opened the door with a velvet smile

Said, “Come on in, stay a while”

We talked like the world wasn’t breakin’ down

Laughed in a way that could drown out doubt

But behind her eyes was a storm in wait

She said, “There’s just one thing before it gets too late…”

She said, “My old friend can’t run no more,

His time is done, his body’s sore

But I can’t do what must be done—

I need your hand, I need your gun.”

So I shook my head, and looked away,

Said, “I’m so sorry, I just can’t stay.”

She looked at me with quiet shame…

And I walked out in the pouring rain.

She loved that horse like blood and bone

Years of grace strong as stone

But now that grace had slowed its stride

And someone had to say goodbye

She said it plain, no tears, no scream

Just like a whisper inside a dream

And though my heart was breakin’ too

I couldn’t pull the trigger she asked me to

She said, “My old friend can’t run no more,

His time is done, his body’s sore

But I can’t do what must be done—

I need your hand, I need your gun.”

I said, “I’m not the kind to end a soul,”

“I’d rather let time take the toll.”

She turned away, and that was all…

A porcelain queen in a gilded hall.

Maybe love means saying no,

Even when the silence grows

Maybe my place is walking out,

When mercy wears a shadow’s shroud

She said, “My old friend can’t run no more,

His time is done, his body’s sore…”

But I held on to what I knew—

That I could never follow through

I left her there with grief and pain

A bond untied, a vow not made

And somewhere out there, in the night…

A horse still waits for the final ride.

(Horse Noises)