C G Take me back to the place where I first saw the light C F To the sweet sunny south take me home C F C G Where the mockingbird sings me to sleep every night C G C Oh why was I tempted to roam C G I think with regret of the dear home I left C F Of the warm hearts that sheltered me there C F C G Of wife and of dear ones of whom I'm bereft C G C For the old place again do I sigh C G Take me back to the place where the orange trees grow C F To my plot in the evergreen shade C F C G Where the flowers from the river's green margins did grow C G C And spread their sweet scent through the glade C G Oh the path to our cottage they say has grown green C F And the place is quite lonely around C F C G And the face and the forms of the ones that I loved C G C Now lie in the cold mossy ground C G Take me back let me see what is left that I knew C F Can it be that the old house is gone C F C G Dear friends of my childhood indeed must be few C G C And I must face death all alone C G But yet I'll return to the place of my birth C F Where the children have played round the door C F C G Where they gathered wild blossoms that grow round the path C G C They'll echo our footsteps no more C G Take me back to the place where my little ones sleep C F My wife lies buried close by C F C G By the graves of my loved ones I long for to weep C G C And among them to rest when I die