Seneca Creek

In the Spring of 1949

That’s when I crossed the county line

It’s there I saw in Seneca Creek

A girl named Ruth who washed her feet

I told her my name was RC Farris

That I’d marry her with half a karat

She said, I do, but no stone can reach

The prettiest shine of this here creek

The mud was deep and the roads were wide

We’d retreat and then re-take the lines

Korean winters had torn me down

And killed all the boys from my hometown

But I’m coming home, Ruth, my dear

I got money in my pocket, don’t you fear

We’ll build a life by Seneca Creek

You’ll have everything you’ll ever need

Let’s build a home by Seneca Creek

And raise ourselves a family

I’ll work on the farm, you work the store

We’ll have everything we ever hoped for

With the top of a mountain above our heads

And the roar of Seneca by the bed

Seneca Creek

And sure enough, the hard times came

You loved yours, I did the same

But we made it through the winter’s cold

And many summers young and old

In ’85 the creek did rise

But it only took the other side

It took Gandee, North Fork, and South Branch too

The house still stood that I built for you

In ’94 when you got sick

We’d make up trips for the hell of it

Take my hand, Ruth, my dear

I’ll take you back to any year

And now you lie on the hill up high

Right beneath the mountain sky

Seneca Creek sings below

Atop the tree sits a lonely crow

We built a home by Seneca Creek

And raised ourselves a family

I worked on the farm, you worked the store

We had everything we'd ever hoped for

With the top of a mountain above our heads

And the roar of Seneca by the bed

Seneca Creek