she was reading a book that she d already read just to pass the time he just sat there and stared at the tv set like he was barely alive and when the local news was over they would climb the stairs and crawl in bed underneath the covers like neither one was there and it s a long long way across the great divide the songs that they once sang now echo far and wide they could still get back all the love that they have lost but only if they both will reach across cause it s a long long way to the other side of the great divide he was up in the attic on the fourth of july cause they flew a flag in the yard when he found some old roses she had long ago dried before they drifted apart and how the years had slipped right by them he didn t understand he carried a petal into the kitchen and he placed it in her hand and it s a long long way across the great divide the songs that they once sang now echo far and wide they could still get back all the love that they have lost but only if they both will reach across cause it s a long long way to the other side of the great divide