Lyrics Rider on an Orphan Train - Tom Russell

Once I rode an orphan train
And my brother did the same
They split us up in Missourri
James was five and I was three

He got taken by some parent
But for me they did not care
We were brave and did not cry
When they made us say goodbye

That was the last I saw of him
Before a family took me in
But I swore I'd run away
And find my brother, James, one day

I went back when I was grown
To find our old childrens home
And I asked for to see my file
Of when I was an orphan child

It's sad, they say, there's been a flood
File washed away in the Missourri mud
Sometimes life is a stonewall
Either climb, or else you fall

In every town on every street
All the faces that I meet
And I wonder, could one be
My brother James, come back to me

No I don't know where he's gone
And I have searched my whole life long
Now I roam from town to town
But there's no orphan lost and found

Sometimes I dream a pleasant sight
My brother James and I unite
Remembering our last goodbye
No longer brave, we start to cry

I hope he lives a life of ease
And all his days a soft warm breeze
And may he sit upon a throne
And may he never sleep alone

Once I rode an orphan train
And my brother did the same
We got off in Missourri
James was five and I was three