American Old Time Song Lyrics: 46 How Can You Leave Me Now

Theater, Music-Hall, Nostalgic, Irish & Historic Old Songs, Volume 46

How Can You Leave Me Now?
Copyright, 1894, by The S. Brainard's Sons Co.
and Jeffrey T. Branen.
Words and Music by Jeffrey T. Branen,

Oh, how well do I remember, when a boy
I was seated on my dear old mother's knee;
How my heart did beat with ecstasy and joy,
At the stories that, she often told to me.
I am thinking of another now, with fair and manly brow,
A father and his faltering good-bye;
When she saw that he was dead these are the words she said:
"But you cannot, oh, how can you leave me now?"

Refrain.
I am thinking of another now, with fair and manly brow,
A father and his faltering good-bye;
When she saw that he was dead these are the words she said:
"But you cannot, oh, how can you leave me now I"

Many changes now have taken place since then,
For through a world of strangers I now roam;
Oh, how oft I've cursed the very morning when
I turned my back on mother and our home.
It seems I see her standing in that quaint old cottage now,
The tears a-down her cheeks so softly roll,
Suying, '" Jack, my pride, my joy, your mother's only boy,
But you cannot, oh, how can you leave me now!"

Refrain.
It seems I see her standing in that quaint old cottage now,
The tears a-down her cheeks so softly roll. |
Saying, "Jack, my pride, my joy, your mother's only boy,
But you cannot, oh, how can you leave me now I"

How I long to see that dear old face once more,
The merry days of childhood once again,
And to bear those simple stories o'er And o'er,
As she told them all so kindly to me then.
But mother dear is dead And gone, I ne'er shall see her more,
The band of death has touched her aged brow;
In my dreams I seem to bear these words to me so dear:
"But you cannot, oh, how can you leave me now I"

Refrain.
But mother dear is death and gone, I ne'er shall see her more,
The hand of death has touched her aged brow;
In my dreams I seem to bear these words to me so dear:
"But you cannot, oh, how can you leave me now!"