From this great Southern Country where I grow old and gray
The memory of their goodness remain with me today.
They lived the simple sort of lives strangers to World renown
And theirs were familiar faces in and around the old Town
Few of them ever had the wander bug and in their Homeplace they died
And perhaps the only faults they had was their parochial pride.
They were kind hearted people credit to them is due
And to the higher human principles they remained steadfastly true
And though they too had their human failings in them there was much good
And if you were in trouble they would help you if they could.
Familiar with Nature ways they knew the bird by his song
And signs of weather in the sky they seldom did get wrong
And when the swallow flew close to the ground they told you rain was nigh
Since their prey winged insects in changeable weather close to the grass did fly.
Far north of here and far away from this far southern shore
The role models of my boyhood years at rest forever more
For those who were in need of help they went out of their way
And I surely will remember them until my dying day.