Dream of Home
 


Citation

“Dream of Home,” Appalachian State University Libraries Digital Collections, accessed December 8, 2024, https://omeka.library.appstate.edu/items/show/31478.


Comments

Allowed tags: <p>, <a>, <em>, <strong>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>

Title

Dream of Home

Description

This item is part of the I. G. Greer Folksong Collection which consists of more than 300 individual song titles and their variants as collected by Isaac Garfield Greer (1881-1967) from informants, primarily in Ashe, Wilkes and Watauga counties. The collection includes manuscripts, typescript transcriptions produced by Dr. Greer’s clerical staff, and handwritten musical notations. Songs range from traditional Child Ballads, traditional English and Scottish ballads as well as their American variants, to 19th century popular music to musical compositions of local origin.

Subject

Folk songs
Mothers and sons--Songs and music
Dreams--Songs and music
Death--Songs and music

Alternative Title

I Sat Alone at Midnight Hour

Publisher

W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Appalachian State University

Contributor

Greer, I. G. (Isaac Garfield), 1881-1967

Format

PDF

Language

English

Type

Text

Transcription

A Dream of Home

I sat alone at the midnight hour
And watched the starlit sky.
And dreamed I heard my mother say:
"I wish my boy was nigh.
I know not where he is to night
He crossed the troubled Main.
But this I know, if life holds out,
He'll wander back again.

Refrain:

He's coming home, Oh, joyful thought,
My boy no more will roam.
A letter here says, Mother dear,
I'm coming, coming home.

He's gone tho' now far, far away,
Perhaps in deserts wild.
Oh, God, to Thee I pray tonight
To keep my distant child.
No Father there to guide him now
No brother with his cheer
No Mother there to soothe his brow,
No sister with her tear.

I fancy now I see his face,
As fair as when a child,
And He's a full grown man to day,
And true and brave, but wild.
A letter here says 'Mother, dear,
No longer I will roam,
So now I stand and watch the gate,
I know he's coming home.

Alas dear friends 'tis but a dream.
My Mother's here no more.
She left this world of sin and pain
For Canaan's happy shore.
Lord, send some messenger of love
To guide my wayward feet,
That I may meet my Mother there
Who is waiting at the gate.

Scholarly Classification

Appears in The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection

File name

113_DreamOfHome_ocr

Comments

Allowed tags: <p>, <a>, <em>, <strong>, <ul>, <ol>, <li>