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by Stephen Collins Foster (1826 - 1864)

Old Dog Tray
Language: English 
The morn of life is past,
And evening comes at last;
It brings me a dream of a once happy day,
Of merry forms I've seen
Upon the village green,
Sporting with my old dog Tray.
CHORUS
 Old dog Tray's ever faithful,
 Grief cannot drive him away,
 He's gentle, he is kind;
 I'll never, never find
 A better friend than old dog Tray.

The forms I call'd my own
Have vanished one by one,
The lov'd ones, the dear ones have all passed away,
Their happy smiles have flown,
Their gentle voices gone,
I've nothing left but old dog Tray.
(CHORUS)

When thoughts recall the past
His eyes are on me cast;
I know that he feels what my breaking heart would say;
Although he cannot speak
I'll vainly, vainly seek
A better friend than old dog Tray.
(CHORUS)

Text Authorship:

  • by Stephen Collins Foster (1826 - 1864) [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Stephen Collins Foster (1826 - 1864), "Old Dog Tray", 1853. [
     text verified 1 time
    ]

Researcher for this page: T. P. (Peter) Perrin

This text was added to the website: 2011-11-10
Line count: 26
Word count: 143

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