In the Open Spaces

[Intro]

[Verse 1]
I pulled off the highway where the pavement turns to dust
Past a sign that promised nothing
But a hundred miles along a white line
The engine ticked like a heartbeat in the silence all around
And I stood there in the basin where the sky came to the ground
No signal on my phone, no voice to fill the air
Just the wind across the sagebrush like a whispered kind of prayer

[Pre-Chorus]
And I thought I came out here to get away
But standing in the nothing, I finally had something to say

[Chorus]
In the open spaces, where the hours lose their name
Where the mountains hold the sunset like a slow and steady flame
I found the part of me that all the noise had buried deep
In the open spaces, I remembered how to breathe
In the open spaces, I remembered who to be

[Verse 2]
There's a homestead off the gravel where the roof caved in with time
The wood is turning silver and the sage is climbing through the pine
Somebody built a life here, raised a family, worked the ground
Now the wind is the only tenant and it doesn't make a sound
I put my hand against the doorframe, felt a hundred years go by
And I thought about the things we build and how they all know how to die

[Pre-Chorus]
But dying isn't ending, it's just giving back the land
And maybe I've been holding on to things I don't understand

[Chorus]

[Bridge]
Then I saw them on the ridgeline, moving fast against the grey
A band of wild horses like a dream that ran away
And my heart broke open — not from sadness, not from pain
But from knowing something beautiful doesn't need to be explained
They were free because they'd never learned to ask for anyone's permission
And I stood there thinking maybe that's been my condition

[Chorus]

[Outro]
I still drive those empty highways when the world gets way too loud
Park the truck and kill the engine and just listen to the ground
There's a sermon in the silence if you let it find your ears
In the open spaces
That's where I disappear
That's where I finally appear