Billy Horton was a cautious man of the road
He walked looking over his shoulder
Remained faithful to its code
When something caught his eye
He'd measure his need
And then very carefully he'd proceed
Billy met a young girl
in the early days of May
It was there in her arms
he let his cautiousness slip away
In their lover's twilight
as the evening sky grew dim
He laid back in her arms
and laughed at what had happened to him
On his right hand
Billy tattooed the word love
and on his left hand was the word fear
And in which hand he held
his faith was never clear
Come Indian summer
he took his young lover for his bride
With his own hands built
her a great house
down by the river side
Now Billy was an honest man
He wanted to do what was right
He worked hard to fill their lives
with happy days and loving night
And alone on his knees
in the darkness for steadiness he'd pray
For he knew in a restless heart
the seed of betrayal lay
One night, Billy woke from
a terrible dream,
calling his wife's name
She lay breathing beside him
in a peaceful sleep,
a thousand miles away
He got dressed in the moonlight,
and down to the highway he strode
And when he got there,
he didn't find nothing but road
But he felt a coldness rise up inside him
That he couldn't name
Just as the words tattooed
across his knuckles
He knew it would always remain
At their bedside
he brushed the hair
from his wife's face
As the moon shone on her skin so white
Filling their room
in the beauty of God's fallen light