in my song you live again
and the phrases that i rhyme
are just the footsteps out of time
from the time when i knew you
all the folks around madison county cussed your name
sharecropping colored man
who would steal anything he can
and everybody laid the blame on reuben james
for you still walk the furrowed fields of my mind
the calloused hands upon the plow
i loved you then and i love you now
the gossip of madison county died with child
and although your skin was black
you were the one that didn't turn your back
on the hungry white child with no name
with your mind on my soul and a bible in your right hand
turn the other cheek. well there's a better world a-waiting for the meek"