Oh, Shenandoah

Arr. Alf Houkom

It was in a family of old

Whose daughter loved a man.

All kin hated to see’t foretold,

So off the smitten two ran.

“To meet your love, go thither

Where depths reflect the skies,

On yonder banks, the river

Afore the sun doth rise.”

They met b‘neath the mountain shade

Cast by the luminous moon.

“Let’s be gone,” the bridegroom bade

But at thought, the lady near swooned--

“How can I leave the place of my birth,

To wander afoot uprooted

From the vale, the mist, the cool green earth,

The Missouri, yet unpolluted?”

Stole away, he, forevermore

The firstborn daughter, Winona.

Till she became a voice of yore

She cries, “Oh, Shenandoah…”

Original Poetry

Inspired by “Oh, Shenandoah”

by Annabelle Hu

The Ballad of the Wide Missouri