1.

  |D          /            G      /  
Oh how can it be they have driven,
     |A         /            D   /
Their father so helpless and old,
  |D             /             G     /
Oh G-d may their crimes be for-given,
  |A          /           D    / |
To perish out here in the cold.

2.

Oh heaven I'm sad and I'm weary,
See the tears how they course down my cheek,
This world is so lonely and weary,
My heart for relief plainly seeks.

chorus:

   |D        /            /      /
I'm old  I'm helpless and feeble,
       |A          /               /  /
And the days of my youth have gone by,
        |D        /           G          / 
And it's over the hill to the poor house,
      |A        /             D   / |
I must wander a-lone there to die.

3.

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.

4.

Oh me on the doorstep up yonder,
I've set with my babe's on my knee,
No father was happy or fonder,
Than I of my little ones three.

chorus:

5.

The boys were so rosy and cheerful,
And Lily with chatter so sweet,
G-d knows how their father has loved them,
But they've driven him out on the street.

6.

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

chorus: