F     C G


[Verse]
F
Scenes of my childhood arise before my gaze,
C                                      G
Bringing recollections of bygone happy days.
F
When down in the meadow in childhood I would roam,
C                                  F
No one's left to cheer me now with-in that good old home,
Dm
Father and Mother, they have pass'd away;
C                                       E
Sister and brother, now lay beneath the clay,

[Chorus]
    F                                           Gm
But while life does remain to cheer me, I'll re-tain
Am                                        G
This small violet I pluck'd from mother's grave.


[Break]
G
Only a violet I pluck'd when but a boy,
C                                                        G
And oft'times when sad at heart this flow'r has giv'n me joy;

[Chorus]
F                                              Gm
But while life does remain in memoriam I'll re-tain,
Am                                        G
This small violet I pluck'd from mother's grave.


[Verse]
F
Well I remember my dear old mother's smile,
C                                            G
As she used to greet me when I returned from toil,
F
Always knitting in the old arm chair,
C                                               F
Father used to sit and read for all us children there,
Dm
But now all is silent around the good old home;
C                                        E
They all have left me in sorrow here to roam,

[Chorus]
F                                               Gm
But while life does remain, in memoriam I'll re-tain
Am                                        F
This small violet I pluck'd from mother's grave.