The Autumn wind is chilly and the moon is shining down
Upon a lonely cottonwood, the leaves are dried and brown
And carved into it's withered bark, so dim it barely shows
A heart with four initials made so many years ago

It was put there by a young man in the springtime of his life
The very day his sweetheart told him she would be his wife
They were married in the month of June, and they exchanged their vows
Standing there together underneath the spreading boughs

Chorus
Oh I promise that I'll hold you in my heart
And what God has joined together, let no man tear apart
But if you ever have to leave, when you return to me
I'll be waiting for you underneath the same old tree

The time they spent together was as happy as could be
Until the day that he was called to fight across the sea
She sent her prayers off with him and then faithfully did write
A letter to him everyday that he would read at night

2nd chorus
(she'd say) I promised that I'd hold you in my heart
And what God has joined together, let no man tear apart
But now that you have had to leave, when you return to me
I'll be waiting for you underneath the same old tree

And when the war was over he came sailing back again
But it broke his heart to hear the news his family had for him
She had caught the fever and within the week was dead
and  was buried neath the cottonwood where once they both had said

First Chorus