“Summer of ’77 (Medora Moonlight)”

“She was my home… long gone…”

[Verse 1]

In the shadow of the Badlands sky,
Where stars would whisper, you and I.
She smiled like dawn across the plains,
And love began with summer rains.
[Verse 2]
A hostess grace, a cook’s worn hands,
Two dreamers drawing wedding plans.
She played the keys, I strummed the chords,
Our hearts in tune, in sweet accord.

[Chorus] 
Now I dream her arms around me tight,
Her laughter floating through the night.
Though decades passed and hearts moved on,
She was my right, I was her wrong.
I let her go, the greatest sin…
And lost the life we could’ve been.

 [Verse 3]

We planned a life beneath God's skies,
But I could not forgive the lie.
Too young to bend, too blind to see,
She changed her heart, not love for me.
 [Verse 4]

She built a life, she found her way,
While I chased ghosts and slipped away.
No arms have held me quite the same,
No love has ever said my name.

[Chorus 2]
Now I dream her arms around me tight,
A moonlit ghost in morning light.
And though I’ve walked through love and flame,
No one else ever knew my name.
I called it off — the deepest sin…
And lost the life we could’ve been.

[Bridge] 
At sixty-nine, I see it clear,
She was my peace when she was near.
But fools let angels slip away,
And live to dream of yesterday.

[Final Chorus] 
So let me dream her one more time,
In Medora’s hush, with stars that shine.
Though I wake with tears again,
She'll always be my might have been.
She loved me true in seventy-seven...
A fleeting taste of earthbound heaven.

 [Outro]
“She was my home… long gone…”

Genre: Acoustic folk ballad
Tempo: Slow (around 70 BPM)
Mood: Nostalgic, aching, intimate