Here you go:

MY WIFE WENT AWAY AND LEFT ME

My wife went away and left me
Out in this wide world alone
Sadness and gladness she left me
She left a doggone good home
I wrote her a letter last Tuesday
Sealed it with a kiss
The answers came back the next morning
And what she said to me was this

When the groc'ry man puts sand in the sugar
The milkman makes milk out of chalk
Boys stay home with their mothers
Women forget how to talk
When the ocean turns into corn whiskey
The railroad runs under the sea
And the man in the moon comes down in a balloon
Then darling, I'll come back to thee

I sat down and wrote her another
Sealed it with my fist
The answer was mailed the next morning
And what I said to her was this

When the moon turns into an apple
And a rainbow turns into a vine
They build a steeple to heaven
The stars they all fail to shine
When tho ocean turns into rye whiskey
Makes glasses to see the wind
When the girls quit using powder and paint
Then, darling, I'll ask you again

Source: transcription in Kinney Rorrer 'Rambling Blues: The Life & Songs of Charlie Poole' Old Time Music Booklet #3. This side has been reissued on CD on 'The Legend of Charlie Poole Vol 3' County CD-3561. Original recording made in New York on 23 July 1928.

Rorrer had the following note: 'A song written in 1889 by Charles D. Vann titled 'Then My Darling I'll Come Back to Thee' bears some relation to Poole's recording. However, Poole's does differ in many instances. Kelly Harrell recorded a similar, though not identical, version with the Virginia String Band on Victor (21520) in 1927. Poole may have learned it from Harrell and made his own changes to suit his taste'.

--Stewie.