The Last Promise

Florence E. Stiff

In a quiet little country graveyard
Where the grass grows so tall
Beneath a big old weeping willow
Down on my knees I did fall
I cherished and I loved her
And though I couldn't see her face,
I knelt by her grave and promised
That no one could ever take her place.

The months went by so slowly
Loneliness I could not stand
I picked up a terrible habit
For a bottle in my hand.
The weeks went passed more easily
What went on I never knew
Until just one year later
I was to marry a girl in blue.

Where I found her I could not tell you
What she was I did not know
The day was set for me to marry
This girl named Mary Jo.
On the day before the wedding
I caught a west bound train
With a bottle in my pocket
I hardly knew my name.

Six months later I recovered
And lay thinking of that night,
A friend told me of the train wreck
And how I almost lost my life.
One year later I returned
To the place I loved so well
And went straight to the little graveyard
And down on my knees I fell.

The last promise that I made there
Has never yet been broken
And to the one I was to marry
I have never again even spoken
In my work I took an interest
And everything went real well
And now I want to tell you
The last there is to tell.

They say my days are numbered
That I haven't long to live
So on my deathbed I am asking God
That my sins He might forgive
Then on some bright morning
When I leave this whole world behind
I can enter into heaven
And there my true love I'll find.