Poor Ellen Smith

[Verse 1]
Poor Ellen Smith, how she was found
Shot through the heart, lyin' cold on the ground
Her clothes were all scattered and thrown on the ground
Blood marks the spot where poor Ellen was found

[Verse 2]
Saw her on Monday before that sad day
They found her poor body and took it away
Who had the heart, oh, who had the face
To murder my sweetheart in this lonesome place?

[Verse 3]
Oh, I laid out six months, and prayed all the time
They might find the one that committed the crime
They picked up their riflеs and hunted me down
Found me a-loafin' in Mount Airy town

[Verse 4]
Now I'm in jail and God knows it's hard
Whilе my sweetheart sleeps calmly in that lonesome graveyard
I got a letter yesterday, I read it today
Said, "The flowers on her grave have all faded away"

[Verse 5]
I've been in this prison for twenty long years
Each night I see Ellen through my bitter tears
The warden just told that soon I'll be free
To go to her grave near that old willow tree

[Outro]
Someday I'll go home and I'll stay when I go
On poor Ellen's grave, pretty flowers I'll sow