Lyrics

There's an oak in the bottom where she told me she wanted to stay
Cause she felt the fall coming and her time slipping away.
Her strength said it plainly but I guess I was too weak to tell
I thought we'd walk forever hand and hand in the dell.

They've torn down the old bridge we hung from to miss the train
The timbers are gone that splintered her hands, what was our aim?
I guess to live forever braving each other's pains
Now I wish we'd let it hit us to walk in the dell once again.

With wide eyes she'd thank God but I never knew what she prayed
She was asking forgiveness for a penance that I'd never paid
She never sold me on heaven but now I'm certain that there's hell
Why punish a little girl for picking flowers for me in the dell?


Her last letter mentioned the ugly sights and smells, too often
Then one rainy fall morning they told me she slipped and fell
Trying to pick stars like bluebonnets, the best I can tell...
Trying to find her way back to Texas back to the dell
On the Manhattan pavement , the lost little girl of the dell.