My Rose Marie (A Soldier's Tale)

Well, now, I'm out here under guard tonight
 I wear the ball and chain
 Joined up to fight the Yankee cavalry
 Oh, we got here cold and hungry
 Then they marched us through the rain
 And I was thinkin' 'bout you then, my Rose Marie
 Oh, the cannonballs, the bayonets
 The bloody battle cry
 Oh, there's nothin' but these days of misery
 And when those Yankees got me on the wire
 I could hear the bullets fly
 And I was thinkin' of you then, my Rose Marie
 Seems like a thousand summers past
 Oh, since we rode that circus wheel
 And kissed there at the top
 For all to see
 But now outside there is a firing squad
 And now they're servin' me up my last meal
 And I was thinking of you then
 Oh, my Rose Marie
 Two guards walked me to that prison wall,
 The preacher reads a prayer
 But your face is all of heaven that I see
 And as they tie that blindfold on
 I see the sky and taste the air
 And I'm thinkin' of you then, my Rose Marie
 Oh now I can hear the rifle triggers cockin' back
 And the order shouted out
 Oh, but I feel there's somethin' wrong here, now
 Please, Lord, let it be
 Oh, all around us bombs exploding, shells are dropping here
 From the army to the south
 And then a corporal cut the ropes there on my wrists
 And I was free
 I was thinkin' about you then, my Rose Marie
 I marched back with all the others
 That had proudly wore the gray
 Finally made it back here home to Tennessee
 But all they said was that you'd married
 And you had moved away
 And I was thinkin' of you then, my Rose Marie
 Now years have passed, I'm still alone
 No new one to desire
 Still starin' into flames of memory
 I see circus wheels, and summers,
 And a face there in the fire
 And I'm thinkin' of you now, my Rose Marie
 My Rose Marie