Oh the sun is setting low o'er Cobalt and the mines,
And I've come here again to touch and read the lines
Of your name here on the stone, no longer flesh and bone.
Oh, my sweet Rosella May, I miss you dearly.
Oh, when I was but a lad, I signed on with the crew
For a life below the earth; what more was I to do?
But as the years went by, you'd wait along the path.
I soon lived for your smile and to hear your tender laugh.
Well we courted long and dear while McCarthy was your name,
And when you untied your hair, all the flowers were put to shame,
So the fellas spruced me up for the first time in my life.
How I felt like I was someone when you became my wife!
For you took this hard-rock man so poor in grace and charms
And gave to me a world lying in your arms.
Soon from the sound of heartbeats, twins the doctor said,
But their birth this house left empty and I alone in bed.
Oh we pitmen live in fear of the price that we might pay,
To never come back up or see the light of day,
But ne'er a one did warn me "a life might cave in too."
Sacred heart, that happened when God from me took you.
So I'll chip away my days, deep beneath the ground,
Pickin' at the rocks where silver's to be found.
But oh it's all for naught and I'd throw it all away
If I could have you near and hold you one more day.
For the sun is setting low o'er Cobalt and the mines,
And I've come here again to touch and read the lines
Of your name here on the stone, no longer flesh and bone.
Oh, my sweet Rosella May, I miss you dearly.