Don't Tell Mama

I was headed north on Highway Five
On a star-lit Sunday night
When a pick-up truck flew by me out of control
As I watched in my headlights
He swerved left then back right
He never hit the brakes
As he left the road
I found him lying in the grass
Among the steel and glass
With an empty whiskey bottle by his side
And through the blood and tears
He whispered in my ear
A few last words just before he died
Don’t tell Mama I was drinking
Lord knows her soul would never rest
I can’t leave this world with Mama thinking
I met the Lord with whiskey on my breath
I still think about that night
And how that young man died
And how others sometimes pay for our mistakes
The last thing on his mind
As he left this world behind
Was knowing someone else’s heart would break