She was the parson's only daughter
And a poor sharecropper's dream
Her voice as sweet as falling water
From the cool clear mountain stream
We came to share a love forbidden
A union cursed by family
To be forever unforgiven
When we swore eternity
We settled hard on twenty acres
Ploughed the fields and worked the land
But the fever came to take her
With its unforgiving hand
I tried to soothe her shaking body
But no peace could I provide