For Mom....

Mom, it will never be the same however hard we try, to live the wy we used to when you were around. I'll never laugh with the same satisfied laugh I used to have when you were around. And the way you had a contagious laugh that I will never hear again; that same laugh I so much tried to copy while you were still with us; the way I had fun practicing it, and now the practicing is over now I can't laugh with you... and it hurts me. Do I make you proud, mom, so far?

When I'm alone I often think of an old house on the hill
Of a big yard hedged in roses where we ran and played at will
And when the night time brought us home hushing our merry din
Mother would look around and ask are all the children in
Well it's been many a year now and the old house on the hill
No longer has my mother's care and the yard is still so still
But if I listen I can hear it all no matter how long it's been
I seem to hear my mother ask are all the children in
And I wonder when the curtain falls on that last earthly day
When we say goodbye to all of this to our pain and work and play
When we step across the river where mother so long has been
Will we hear ask her a final time are all the children in (I come)

The other night dear, as I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms
But when I awoke, dear, I was mistaken
So I hung my head and I cried.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

I'll always love you and make you happy,
If you will only say the same.
But if you leave me and love another,
You'll regret it all some day:

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

You told me once, dear, you really loved me
And no one else could come between.
But not you've left me and love another;
You have shattered all of my dreams:

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

In all my dreams, dear, you seem to leave me
When I awake my poor heart pains.
So when you come back and make me happy
I'll forgive you dear, I'll take all the blame.

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away

We all were called to come back to the old home on the farm
Mother's passed away what a mournful day
And as my daddy watched his eyes were filled with pain and hurt
When someone stepped upon a rose and crush it in the dirt
Don't step on mother's roses daddy cried she planted them the day she was my bride
And everytime I see a rose I see her smilin' face
She made my darkest days look bright round the old homeplace
Don't step on mother's roses let them grow
The way they did since many years ago
They'll bloom for me each year and I'll have mother near
Don't step on mother's roses let them grow
Years have passed away and how the old homeplace has changed
Daddy had to go we all miss him so
Children pick the roses as they go along the way
But when their petals are abused I hear my daddy say
Don't step on mother's roses...

Precious mem'ries unseen angel sent from somewhere to my soul
How they linger ever near me and the sacred past unfolds
Precious mem'ries how they linger how they ever flood my soul
In the stillness of the midnight precious sacred seems unfold
[ piano ]
Precious father loving mother fly across the lonely years
And the old home scenes from my childhood in fond memory appear
Precious mem'ries how they linger...
Precious mem'ries flood my soul