I had a true love from Hannibal Where the Mississippi turns flat and wide We'd lay out on the sandbars And fall asleep to the barges and the fireflies And I killed my true love from Hannibal She was nineteen and I was twenty-two Summer was ending and she was leaving soon To study writing on the east coast And I worked in my father's shop Fixing air conditioners and heating pumps Going to college never made much sense to me I wanted to keep my true love close to me The summers are hot in Hannibal The summers there are unbearable So we'd steal down to the water's edge And cool off in the river's ebb One night we decided what we would do Swim to the middle 'til our strength gave out Where the current was strong and deep Together we'd be pulled down to sleep So we swam 'til our bodies were weak I watched my true love get washed out to sea I felt a terrible grip from beneath The river took her but it didn't take me In St. Louis there's a prison cell It'll be twelve more years 'til I get out When I do her father says he'll shoot me down If I don't do it myself Most days I just try and sleep I dream of Hannibal when it was in between It's not quite day and it's not yet night We fall asleep to the barges and the fireflies