That North Dakota cowboy I still dream of now and then When I think back on my younger years and he was all I knew of men He'd never put a hand on me though I know he loved me so But we'd sing all night 'till the sun rolled out Like a blanket on the snow His eyes were green as Norway pines, his laughter warm and pure But he felt a burden in his mind even love could not have cured And that North Dakota cowboy, handsome, young, adored Rode off into the prairie sky in his rusty yellow Ford You know he didn't ride or wrangle but he had a cowboy's soul I was not the only one by far whose tender heart he stole Gallant as a soldier from some ancient book of lore Every year I'm getting older and he just stays twenty-four When the ice breaks up in Springtime and the little calves are born Peeking through the thawed out ground Are little blades of new green corn Gram Parsons on the AM dial, smoking with the windows down I still look for him in Fargo every time I'm back in town.