Merle Haggard - Funeral lyrics

[Spoken:] Let me tell you about a man Tommy Collins A veteran in country music who interrputed his career by his own choice To become a minister and by the way I understand he was very successful And during this period of his life Tommy pasteured a small Baptist church In the very small town of Lincoln California. And it was during this time that he was called upon to speak at a funeral And the poem I want to recite for you now is a true experience of Tommy's And it's simply called The Funeral. [Sang:] A funeral is always a saddening thing For everybody is somebody to someone But some funeral scenes chill you to the bone And one day in our town we had one. A very young mother had died Something that you just don't expect And the shops and stores had all closed their doors They did it out of love and respect. And in the crowded funeral home that day With everyone present weeping The sound of a little girl's voice was heard She said, "That's my mommie, she's sleeping." Then I heard the sound of her little feet tap tap tap As she made her way down the aisle Her little purse dangled from her tiny wrist and it brushed her best Sunday dress And she boldly a**erted the confidence That little folks like her possess. To the life that has no final chapter There's no ending and no last mile The preacher and the rest were petrified But on the little girl's face was a smile. She said wake up mommie wake up And still not satisfied she reached out with her little hand And touched her face and cried Then the broken hearted daddy spoke With a gentleness and with power And the words that issued from his lips Was the sermon for the hour. In a child like faith he told her That the dead in Christ will rise God gave us his word he said And we know he never lies. We can't wake up our sleeping mommie But we know someone who can Baby, only God can wake up mommie Let's go home and leave her in his hands...