Once in my youth, I stood on this mountain   And planted some pines in the sand   Every day I looked their way   But just couldn't understand      Why they never grew like I thought they should do   I just couldn't understand why   Now I've rambled around this wide world through   And today I just happened by      Tall pines, tall pines   Reaching up for the clouds   Tall pines, tall pines   I bet you wouldn't know me now      I'll never forget the morning I left   The hum of the bees in the hay   The farther I walk, the harder they talk   How silent it seems here today      There's an old rail fence that we built, inch by inch   Surrounding the old family graves   And there's one gravestone standing all alone   There waiting to join me in the shade      Tall pines, tall pines   Reaching up for the clouds   Tall pines, tall pines   I've come home to sleep beneath your boughs