Kentucky! Old Kentucky!
With mountain glen and field and fen,
And oaks that blend with rhodondend';
With waterfalls and bobwhite calls,
And column'd hall with whited walls —
I love you best!
Kentucky! Fair Kentucky!
With pastures green as eye hath seen,
And limpid stream that runs between
The arching hill and water mill.
There standing still, its years to fill —
My love's fair dream!
Kentucky! My Kentucky!
With sons as great as any State,
It is thy fate of yore and late
To give thy best unto the West,
While in the rest thyself art blessed —
Thou mother great!
Kentucky! Dear Kentucky!
I sing thy worth, State of my birth,
And boyhood mirth! O sacred earth!
The hills I've trod — so help me, God! —
Beneath thy sod and goldenrod
I'll sleep at last.