THE SUWANEE SHORE Words, Richard Henry Buck. Music, Adam Geibel. 1898.
On the shores of yonder river, where the sweet magnolia grows, A little cottage stands beneath the trees, And within its curtained window once there bloomed a pretty rose, A flow'ret kiss'd by ev'ry passing breeze. It was little sweetheart Bessie, whom I wooed so long ago. Time seemed to make me love her more and more, When as boy and girl together, not a sorrow did we know, So happy on the Suwanee shore.
CHORUS: How bright in the sunlight the Suwanee is gleaming! What pleasure its mem'ries hold for me; Oh! I long once again as a child to lie dreaming On the sweet sunny shores of the Suwanee.
Oh! how well do I remember when the war had just begun, And married just a year were Bess and I, The stern voice of duty call'd me, so I said, "My little one, Look up and kiss your soldier boy goodbye." But when homeward I returned again, when duty set me free, A stranger came to meet me at the door, And he told me how she'd pined away, and pointed out to me Her grave upon the Suwanee shore. CHORUS