To All the Absent Sons & Daughters of Michigan,
This Song is most respectfully dedicated.
"My Heart Is Still in Michigan" (1873)
Words by L. J. Bates
Music by Joseph Philbrick Webster, 1819-1875

1.
Home of my heart, where e'er I roam,
Far, far away o'er land or sea,
My constant spirit wanders home,
And bears an exile's love to thee.
In dreams the dear old roses blow,
Where swift the rippling Raisin ran,
Or bloom the orchards of Saint Jo;

[REFRAIN]
My heart is still in Michigan,
My heart is still in Michigan.

CHORUS. With firm, full, free earnest voices.
In my old home in Michigan,
With my old friends in Michigan;
Tho' far away my feet may stray,
My heart is still in Michigan,
Tho' far away my feet may stray,
My heart is still in Michigan.

2.
When blows the midnight wind, and shakes
My window, with a happy aire[?]
I hear the surf of far off lakes,
And whisp'ring pines of Saginear[?];
I tread the scenes of long ago,
Where life's long journey first began;
I hear Grand Rivers purling[?] flow;

(REFRAIN)
(CHORUS)

3.
And tho' my waking eyes may glance
On boundless plains, or mountains grand,
I dream of Huron's blue expanse,
And Michigan's white dunes of sand;
Old Hillsdale''s wheatfields, broad and fair,
I feel the summer breezes fan,
And fill the white sails of Saint Clair;

(REFRAIN)
(CHORUS)

4.
At times I've heard in fancy's ears,
Dear voices that shall speak no more;
And seen, thro' long remember'd tears,
My loved and lost ones gone before;
To grass-grown graves, far far away,
Fond mem'ry's loving feet here ran;
I feel my soul kneel down and pray

REFRAIN
In dear and distant Michigan,
In dear and distant Michigan.

(CHORUS)