Two Crossed Lines

Intro
(Sparse acoustic guitar fingerpicking, slow upright bass pulse, distant wind and cricket ambience)
​[Verse 1]
Two dirt roads cutting through the timberline
Forming a shadow in the pale moonshine
Looks like the wooden beams up on Calvary’s hill
Where a man lays down his pride and surrenders his will
I stood right there in the gravel and the dust
With a six-string case and a pocket full of rust
Looking up at the steeple through the sycamore trees
Then down at the man stepping out of the breeze
​[Chorus]
Oh, it’s two crossed lines in the middle of the night
One leads to mercy, one’s a counterfeit light
You can kneel at the cross and let your heavy burden fall
Or shake hands at the crossroads and buy it all
Yeah, the shape looks the same in the dark when you’re lost
There’s a world of difference between the crossroads and the cross
​[Verse 2]
He didn't have horns, didn't smell like smoke
Just a tailored black coat and a silver-tipped spoke
Said, "Son, I can put your name in lights on the marquee
Make the whole world sing every word that you bleed
You don't gotta die to be born again
Just sign on the dotted line and let the show begin"
I heard the choir singing soft from the chapel down the lane
While I traded my soul for the sound of my name
​[Chorus]
Oh, it’s two crossed lines in the middle of the night
One leads to mercy, one’s a counterfeit light
You can kneel at the cross and let your heavy burden fall
Or shake hands at the crossroads and buy it all
Yeah, the shape looks the same in the dark when you’re lost
There’s a world of difference between the crossroads and the cross
​[Bridge]
(Music swells with weeping lap steel and heavy foot-stomp rhythm)
Now the neon’s bright and the crowds all roar
They’re screaming out the lyrics that I bled out on the floor
Got the gold on the wall, got the fame I bought
Funny how the devil gives you everything you sought
Till you’re standing in the spotlight, cold and alone
Wishing two crossed timbers could’ve carried you home
​[Guitar Solo]
(Gritty, slow resonator dobro solo over driving upright bass and stomp)
​[Outro]
(Instruments drop out to just lone acoustic guitar and low baritone vocal)
Two dirt roads cutting through the timberline
Still casting shadows in the pale moonshine
One was built for saving what the world had tossed
One just takes the difference between the crossroads and the cross
(Single low acoustic chord rings out and fades)