There's a Mother Always Waiting

"So, you're going to leave the old home, Jim Today you're going away You're going among the city folks to dwell" So spoke a kind old mother To her boy one summer day "If your mind's made up that way, I wish you well The old home will be lonely We'll miss you when youre gone The birds won't sing so sweet when you're not nigh But if you get in trouble, Jim Just write and let me know" She spoke these words and then she said goodbye If sickness overtakes you And old companions shake you As through this world you wander all alone When friends you haven't any In your pocket not a penny There's a mother always waiting you at home Ten years later to this village Came a stranger no one knew His steps were halt and ragged clothes he wore The little children laughed at him As down the lane he trod At last he stopped before a cottage door He gently knocked, no sound he heard He thought, "Can she be dead?" But then he heard a voice well known to him Twas mother's voice, but her hair had silvered By the touch of time She said, "Thank God, they've sent me home my Jim" If sickness overtakes you And old companions shake you As through this world you wander all alone When friends you haven't any In your pocket not a penny There's a mother always waiting you at home