Digital Tradition Mirror

Tenting on the Old Camp Ground II

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
Pennywhistle notation and Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

Tenting on the Old Camp Ground II
(anonymous)

We are tenting tonight on the old camp ground,
The fires are flickering low,
Still are the sleepers that lie around,
And the sentinels come and go.

cho: Many are the hearts that are weary tonight,
     Waiting for the war to cease;
     Many are the eyes watching for the light
     To see the dawn of peace.
     Tenting tonight, tenting tonight;
     Tenting on the old camp ground.

Alas for the comrades of days gone by,
Whose forms we miss tonight.
Alas for the young and true who lie
Where the battleflag braved the fight.
No more on march or field of strife
Shall they lie down tired and worn;
Nor rouse again to hope and life
When the kettledrums beat at morn.

The lone wife kneels and prays with a sigh,
That God His watch will keep,
O'er the dear one away and the little ones nigh,
In the trundlebed fast asleep.

She prays for him who with soldierly tread
No more into ranks shall fall,
Till the angel rallies the quick and the dead
And the trumpet tone wakens all.

Nearer and nearer the darkness draws,
The hopes of the past lie low.
The embers die with the dying cause;
And the sentinels come and go.
Final Chorus:
Many are the hearts that are weary tonight,
Waiting for the war to cease,
Many are the hopes, the hopes once high and bright,
That sleep with those at peace.
     Dying tonight, dying tonight;
     Dying on the old camp ground.

RG

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!