⸻

She lit a match in the dark that night

Said she heard footsteps when there weren’t no light

Blood on the porch and a scream in the hall

She wrote “Annie’s not okay” in red on the wall

The sheriff came by just past midnight

Said the window was busted and the bed was right

But Annie was gone, like smoke on a breeze

Like a prayer gettin’ caught in the autumn leaves

⸻

Annie, are you okay?

Are you runnin’ through the fields or did you fade away?

Did he grab your soul and steal your breath?

Was it rage, was it fire, or just cold death?

Annie, are you out there?

The house feels empty, and the wind don’t care

If I scream your name through the pines and ash

Would you come back slow, like a ghost from the past?

⸻

I found your boots near the old split rail

Your coat was hangin’ by the cotton bale

Mama said, “some men come like storms

They leave your life in a twisted form”

Neighbors talk like they always do

Sippin’ lies on a back porch view

But none of them saw what I swear I seen

A man in black slippin’ through the ravine

⸻

Annie, are you okay?

Did you call for help when he came your way?

Was it fast, was it mean, did he even blink?

Did the stars go black, did your heartbeat sink?

Annie, are you listenin’?

To the wind in the wires and the screen door whistlin’

We all heard nothin’, but the silence lied

Now the whole damn town just tries to sleep at night

⸻

Your picture’s still taped on the general store glass

With a number that fades every time folks pass

And I sit by the tracks where your trail went cold

With a flask in my coat and a grief I hold

⸻

Annie, are you okay?

Did the Lord reach down or did you slip away?

Was it mercy or madness or somethin’ worse?

Did your name ride out in a shadowed curse?

Annie, if you’re somewhere,

I hope the fire’s warm and the sky is fair

But I’ll keep singin’ ’til the truth unwinds

’Cause Annie, girl, you ain’t leavin’ my mind