You ought to have seen what I saw on my way
To the place where they cut off the woods that day
A dark bird flew as far as eyes could see
And the breath of the wind was whisperin’ to me
There hadn’t been the ghost of a sign
She was found under the shade of a pine
You ought to have seen how she looked in the rain
Not anyone could tell and nothin’ could explain
To carry on was easier said than done
Through raindrops as big as the end of a thumb
There hadn’t been the ghost of a sign
She was found under the shade of a pine
A sleepless night, a message from the dawn
I heard the wakening birds around
Those innocent days were dead and gone
I called her name, not makin’ a sound
There were three stones of marble and one of slate
Down by the boneyard where the river ran straight
And a man spoke of his own child he had lost
He left flowers at the grave; covered with frost
And I knew it was nobody’s fault but mine
When she was found under the shade of a pine
There hadn’t been the ghost of a sign
She was found under the shade of a pine
But I went near to see with my own eyes
The fresh earth from the burial ground
And in a sleepless night with a silver moonrise
I called her name, not makin’ a sound
You ought to have seen what I saw on my way
To the place where they cut off the woods that day
A dark bird flew as far as eyes could see
And the breath of the wind was whisperin’ to me
The words that were written on her stone
Close to tears, close to the bone
There hadn’t been the ghost of a sign
She was found under the shade of a pine
She was found under the shade of a pine