[1] Forty years I've been [4] gone
I've served my [1] time it's been so [5] long
I took a [1] life I know was [4] wrong
But I served my [1] time Lord, [5] Lord, and I'm headed [1] home

Shackled to a ball and [4] chain
I worked in the [1] snow, I worked in the [5] rain
I laid the [1] tracks, never rode the [4] train
Forty years of [1] suffering, [5] forty years of [1] pain

I had a wife, a little queen
I've got a son I've never seen
All I have left now it seems
Is a broken heart and broken dreams

Now I'm home, I've served my time
My life's gone by so I'll sit and pine
Nobody even knows my name
Have no one but myself to blame