Wayne Orr

(Verse 1)
We were barefoot on a gravel road, summer stains on hand-me-down jeans,
You stole my heart with a daisy chain, and a laugh that melted the green.
Swingin’ high on that old porch plank, swearin’ we’d never grow old,
Two kids whisperin’ dreams in the dark, chasin’ fireflies in the cold.

(Chorus)
Oh, we were dust and forever, writein’ love in the rust of time,
Through every storm, every tangled vine, your hand never left mine.
A lifetime wrapped in a small-town sky, where the stars knew our names,
Yeah, we were dust and forever—baby, nothin’ ever changed.

(Verse 2)
Sixteen, you scribbled “always” in ink on my senior ring,
We slow-danced in the pickup’s glow to the jukebox’s broken string.
Then a veil made of your grandma’s lace, and a ring from the five-and-dime,
Built a home where the floorboards creaked, with love soaked into the pine.

(Chorus)
Oh, we were dust and forever, seasons turning like old Chevrolet wheels,
Through every crack, every weathered seal, our roots dug deeper still.
A harvest moon watched our story grow, in the fields where we swore,
Yeah, we were dust and forever—right down to the core.

(Bridge)
Years rolled like thunder, we fought, we bent, we swayed,
Till the day the doctor’s words turned the radio down to gray.
You held my face in the hospice light, said, “Don’t you dare dim the flame,”
Then you slipped into the sunset’s hymn—a whisper of my name.

(Verse 3)
Now I drive past the creek where we carved our initials low,
Your rocker’s empty, but I still talk to you while the TV glow throws shadows slow.
Our grandkids ask ’bout your wildflower smile, and I spin ’em tales of your grace,
How you’re the North Star in every mile, in every wrinkle on my face.

(Chorus)
Oh, we were dust and forever, now you’re the breeze in the curtain’s sigh,
But I feel you there in the lullaby of the crickets’ late July.
When my time comes, I’ll find you barefoot, daisy chainin’ the sky,
‘Cause we’re dust and forever—always never dies.

(Outro)
So let the wheels of that old porch swing slow,
In the hush of the pines, I know…
You’re still my dust.
My forever.