v.1
Oh how can it be they have driven
Their father so helpless and old
Oh God may the crime be forgiven
To perish out here in the cold

Oh Heaven I'm sad and I'm worried
See the tears how they course down my cheek
This world is so lonely and weary
My heart for relief mainly says
Chorus:
I'm old, I'm helpless and feeble
And the days of my youth have gone by
And over the hill to the poorhouse
I must wander alone there to die
v.2
Long years since Mary was taken
My faithful, affectionate wife
Since then I've been alone and forsaken
The light has died out of my life

Oh, me on the doorstep up yonder
I sat with my babes on my knee
Their father was happy, I pondered
And I heard my little one's plea
Rpt. Ch.
v.3
Her voice was so rosy and cheerful
And Lillie would chatter so sweet
God knows how their father has loved them
But they've driven him out in the street

I gave them the place where I lived on
A deed to the farm and more
I gave them the house they were borned in
And now I am turned from its door
Rpt. Ch.