Old Black Joe

1 Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay,
Gone are the friends from the cotton fields away,
Gone from the earth to a better land, I know,
I hear their gentle voices calling, "Old Black Joe."

Chorus:
I'm coming, I'm coming,
For my head is bending low;
I hear those gentle voices calling, "Old Black Joe."

2 Why do I weep when my heart should feel no pain?
Why do I sigh that my friends come not again?
Grieving for forms now departed long ago,
I hear their gentle voices calling, "Old Black Joe." [Chorus]

3 Where are the hearts once so happy and so free?
The children so dear that I held upon my knee?
Gone to the shore where my soul has long'd to go,
I hear their gentle voices calling, "Old Black Joe." [Chorus]

Source: The Assembly Hymn and Song Collection: designed for use in chapel, assembly, convocation, or general exercises of schools, normals, colleges and universities. (3rd ed.) #224