Reuben James

<br>Reuben James<br>In my song you live again<br>And the phrase that I rhyme<br>Are just a footstep out of time<br>From the time when I knew you<br>Reuben James<br>Reuben James, all the folks around Hadison County<br>Cussed your name<br>You`re just a no-count, sharecropping colored man<br>You`d steal anything you can<br>And everybody laid the blame on Reuben James<br>Reuben James, for you still walk<br>Over fields of my mind<br>Faded shirt, weathered brow<br>Colored hands upon the plow<br>Loved you then and I love you now<br><br>Reuben James<br>For a grave<br>The gossiper of Hadison County died with chide<br>Although your skin was black<br>You were the one that didn`t turn your back<br>On the hungry white child with no name<br>Reuben James, Reuben James<br>With your mind on the soul<br>And a bottle in your right hand<br>You said turn the other cheek<br>For there`s a better world awaiting for the meek<br>In my mind these words remain from Reuben James<br><br>Reuben James one dark cloudy day<br>They brought you from the field<br>And to your lonely crambox<br>Came just a preacher<br>Me and the rain<br>Just to sing one last refrain to Reuben James