In the year of eighteen ninety six
A man was waiting for his dying day
he went down a sinned wrong way
Now the jail was the end of his fix
The last prayer he wrote it
Behind his parent’s portrait
Rufus Buck must pay
The letter would stay
“Well I dreamt I was in heaven
Alone among the angel’s fair
I’d hear, seen none no handsome
That twine in golden hair
They looked so neat and sang so sweet
And played as well the golden harp
I was about to pick an angel out
And take her to my heart
But the moment I began to plea
I thought of you, you my love
There was none I’d seen so beautiful
On Earth or Heaven above
Goodbye my dear wife, my mother too
Also my sisters, remember me.”
The law was blotting out the harm
Peace could be back here in Fort Smith
As the July sun rose so warm
The last prayer he wrote it
Behind his parent’s portrait
Rufus Buck still hangin’
Now the letter still livin’