I left my country when I was nineteen, 1925.
And drifted to a town on the cuban coast,
met a woman who became my life.

And ohhh, when I saw her,
darkness fled from me,
it flew like a black bird into the sun,
on the day she married me.

Dear God, Dear God,
I remember climbing up your shoulders,
and coming up under you like a lion
and coming down like we were dieing,
Dear God.

But now the drum birds come for me,
Oh now the drum birds come for me,
And Lord give me forgiveness for all that I have done,
forgive me now, of the way that I beg, keep me on the run,

Dear God, Dear God,
I remember climbing up your shoulders,
and coming up under you like a lion
and coming down, like we were dieing,
Dear God.