Blackjack Oak

[Verse 1]
Love came by from the river smoke
While the leaves were fresh on the trees
But I cut my heart on a blackjack oak
Before they fell on me

[Verse 2]
The leaves are green in the early spring
They are brown as linsey now
I did not ask for a wedding ring
From the wind in the bending bough

[Verse 3]
Fall lightly, lightly, leaves of the wild
Fall lightly on my care
I am not the first to go with child
Because of the blowing air

[Verse 4]
Good girls sleep in their modesty
Bad girls sleep in their shame
But I must sleep in the blackjack oak
'Til my child can have a name

[Verse 5]
Cold and cold and cold again
Cold on the blackjack limb
The winds of the wild for his sponsor men
And a bird to christen him

[Verse 6]
He's gonna act like a hound let loose
When he comes from that blackjack tree
And he's gonna walk in proud shoes
All over Tennessee
All over Tennessee