she was a girl on a wagon train

headed west across the plain

the train got lost in a summer storm

they couldn't move west and they couldn't go home

then she saw him riding through the rain

he took charge of the wagons and he saved the train

she looked down and her heart was gone

the train went west but she stayed on in lonesome dove

a farmer's daughter with a gentle hand

a blooming rose in a bed of sand

she loved the man who wore a star

a texas ranger known near and far

so they got married and they had a child

but the times were tough and the west was wild

so it was no surprise the day she learned that her texas man would not return to lonesome dove

back to back with the rio grande

the christian women in the devil's land

she learned the language and she learned to fight

but she never learned how to beat the lonely nights in lonesome dove

she watched her boy grow into a man

he had an angel's heart and the devil's hand

and he wore a star for all to see

he was a texas lawman legacy

one day word blew into town

it seemed that the man that shot his father down had robbed a bank in cherico

the only thing between them and mexico was lonesome dove

the shadows stretched across the land

as the shots rang out down the rio grande

and when the smoke had finally cleared the street

the men lay at the ranger's feet

the legend tells to this very day

that shots came from an ally way

but no one knows who held the gun

there ain't no doubt when you ask someone in lonesome dove

back to back with the rio grande

the christian women in the devil's land

she learned the language and she learned to fight

but she never learned how to beat the lonely nights in lonesome dove