Crossing Muddy Waters

Baby's gone and I don't know why She let out this morning Like a rusty shot in a hollow sky Left me with no warning Sooner than the dogs could bark Faster than the sun rose Down to the banks in an old mule car She took a flat-boat across the shallow Left me in my tears to drown She left a baby daughter Now the rivers wide and deep and brown She's crossing muddy water Tobacco standing in the fields Be rotten come November And a bitter heart will not reveal A spring that love remembers When that sweet brown girl of mine Hair black eyes are ravens We broke the bread and drank the wine From a jug that she'd been saving Left me in my tears to drown She left a baby daughter Now the rivers wide and deep and brown She's crossing muddy water Baby's crying and the daylight's gone That big oak tree is moaning In rush of wind and rivers song I can hear my sweetheart moaning Crying for her baby child Or crying for her husband With the rivers running deep and wild That keeps her from her loved ones Left me in my tears to drown She left a baby daughter Now the rivers wide and deep and brown And crossing muddy waters And the rivers wide and deep and brown She's crossing muddy waters