"Come Home, Father" (1864)
('Tis the Song of Little Mary)
by Henry Clay Work

---
  Standing at the bar-room door.
While the shameful midnight revel
  Rages wildly as before.
---

1.
Father, dear father, come home with me now!
The clock in the steeple strikes one;
You said you were coming right home from the shop,
As soon as your day's work was done.
Our fire has gone out -- our house is all dark --
And mother's been watching since tea,
With brother Benny so sick in her arms,
And no one to help her but me.
Come home! come home! come home!
Please, father, dear father, come home.

Chorus
Hear the sweet voice of the child
Which the night-winds repeat as they roam!
Oh who could resist this most plaintive of prayers?
"Please father, dear father, come home!"


2.
Father, dear father, come home with me now!
The clock in the steeple strikes two;
The night has grown colder, and Benny is worse --
But he has been calling for you.
Indeed he is worse -- Ma says he will die,
Perhaps before morning shall dawn;
And this is the message she sent me to bring --
"Come quickly, or he will be gone."
Come home! come home! come home!
Please, father, dear father, come home.

(Chorus)

3.
Father, dear father, come home with me now!
The clock in the steeple strikes three;
The house is so lonely -- the hours are so long
For poor weeping mother and me.
Yes, we are alone -- poor Benny is dead,
And gone with the angels of light;
And these were the very last words that he said --
"I want to kiss Papa good night."
Come home! come home! come home!
Please, father, dear father, come home.

(Chorus)