Not the source of the song, evidently, but sharing the same phrase and metaphor:

From Family Memorials in Prose and Verse by Theodore James Elmore (Savannah, GA: Morning News Steam Printing House, 1880):

Excerpt from

TIN WEDDING
[by Theodore J. Elmore?]

To Brother Jerome and Sister Emeline, on the Occasion of the Tenth Anniversary of their Wedding, Tuesday Evening, November 5, 1878.

...Then again, as in the goodly
  Olden time of long ago,
Shall the circle be unbroken—
  Foiled, the last and conquering foe—
Then again shall we be truly
  One, though some passed on before,
Waiting there to sweetly welcome
  Us, who now approach the shore....