Cat. #0849 (MFH #164) - As sung by Ollie Gilbert, Mountain View, Arkansas on August 27, 1969
VERSE 1
I dreamed I staggerd home one night
H'it was an awful gloom
I missed my wife, where could she be
With stranger's in th room
VERSE 2
I hear them say, poor thing she's dead
She's lived an awful life
For grief and woe have broke her heart
By bein a drunkard's wife
VERSE 3
O Mary, Mary, speak to me
I'll never give you pain
I'll never grieve your lov'in heart,
I'll never drink again
VERSE 4
O Papa, Papa, wake her up
Th people says, she's dead
An' let 'er smile an' speak once more
I'll never cry for bread
VERSE 5
O Mary, Mary, it's Durman's call
O, why should I, she said
An' when I woke my Mary's form
Was kneel'in by my bed
VERSE 6
I pressed 'er to my ach'in heart
While tears of sorrow streamed
And ever since my God I've blessed
For send'in me this dream
VERSE 7
It was a dream, a warn'in dream
That Heaven sent to me
To save me from a drunkard's Hell
Grief wore an' misery