Tom Ames' Prayer

Everyone in Nacogdoches knew Tom Ames

Would come to some bad end

'Cause the sheriff caught him stealin' chickens and such

By the time that he was 10

One day, his daddy took a ten dollar bill

And tucked it in his hand

He said, I know that you're headed for trouble, son

Your mama wouldn't understand

So he took his daddy's money and his brother's old bay

He left without a word of thanks

He fell in with this crowd in some border town

And he took to robbin' banks

Outside of law, your luck will run out fast

A few years came and went

Till he's trapped in an alley in Abilene

With all but four shells spent

And he realized prayin' was the only thing

That he hadn't ever tried

Well, he wasn't sure that he knew quite how

But he looked up to the sky

Said, you don't owe me nothing, and as far as I know, Lord

I don't owe nothing to you

I ain't askin' for a miracle, Lord

Just a little bit of luck will do

And you know I ain't never prayed before

'Cause it always seemed to me

That prayin's the same as beggin', Lord

I don't take no charity

Right now, Lord, with my back to the wall

I can't help but recall

How they nearly hung me for stealin' a horse

In Fort Smith, Arkansas

Judge Parker said guilty and the gavel came down

Just like a cannon shot

I went away quietly

I began to file and plot

They sent the preacher on down to my cell

He said, 'The Lord is your only hope

He's the only friend that you're gonna have, son

When you hit the end of Parker's rope

And I guess he could have kept on preachin' till Christmas

But he turned his back on me

I put a homemade blade to that golden throat

Asked the deputy for the key

It ain't the first trouble I seen before

As you already know

Had some help from you, Lord, and the devil himself

It's been strictly touch and go

Yeah, but who in the hell am I talkin' to?

There ain't no one here but me

So he cocked both his pistols and he spit in the dirt

And he walked out into that street