sweet sunny south

take me home to the place where i first saw the light

to the sweet sunny south

take me home

where the mockingbirds sang me to sleep every night

oh

why was i tempted to roam?

oh

i think with regret of the dear home i left

and the warm hearts that sheltered me then

of the wife and dear ones of whom i'm bereft

and i sigh for the old place again

take me home to the place where the orange trees grow

to my cot in the evergreen shade

where the flowers on the river's green margins once bestowed

all their sweetness on the banks where we played

the path to our cottage they say it has grown green

and the place is quite lonely around

and i know that the smiles and the forms i have seen

now lie in the cold mossy ground

but yet

i'll return to the place of my birth

where my children used to play at the door

where they pulled the white blossoms that garnished the earth

which will echo their footsteps no more

take me home to the place where my little ones sleep

and their mother lies buried nearby

o'er the graves of my loved ones i long there to weep

and among them to rest when i die