If mem'ries were gathered like flowers each day I would pick a bouquet

To last through these long lonely hours but mem'ries aren't gathered that way

For mem'ries don't grow like the roses when kissed by the sunshine and dew

And mem'ries aren't carefully chosen they've bloomed from the love that once grew

There's mem'ries as sweet as the roses and sad as the violets of blue

But the lingering lingering mem'ries are the mem'ries that I have of you

[ fiddle - steel ]

That mem'ries would wither like flowers fall to the earth and decay

Each day I would pray for the showers to wash all my mem'ries away

There's mem'ries as sweet...

But the lingering lingering mem'ries are the mem'ries that I have of you