Under the Shade of a Pine

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