Take me back to the place where I first saw the light
To that sweet sunny south take me home
Where the mockingbird sings me to sleep in the night
Oh why was I tempted to roam

Oh I think with regret of the dear home I left
Of the warm hearts that sheltered me there
Of my wife and my family for whom I'm bereft
For the old place again do I sigh

Take me back to the place where the orange trees grow
To my home in the evergreen shade
Where the flowers from the river's green margin did grow
And spread their sweet scent through the glade

Oh the path to our cottage they say has grown green
And the place is quite lonely around
And I know that the places and forms that I love
Now lie 'neath the cold mossy ground

Take me back to the place where my little ones sleep
For Martha lies buried close by
O'er the graves of my loved ones I long for to weep
And among them to rest when I die

But yet I return to the place of my birth
For the children have played 'round the door
And I know that no matter how long I may live
'Twill echo their footsteps no more