As I sit here this dreary morning
Locked up in a prison cell
Work'n to express my feelings
No human tongue can tell
Young men and boys of my country
Just stop and consider it well
If you follow the road I have traveled
You'll wake up in a prison cell
It first begins with round drinking
It was called a social glass
Then you start on the road to destruction
It will bring you to ruin at last
Before you know it you're a drunkard
And has made a wreck of your life
You have broken the heart of your mother
And made home a dealing for your wife
The first thing you know, you're a gambler
In all kinds of vice and sin
Far down on the road to destruction
Breaking laws of God and man
Oh they tell me that out in the future
There's a prison where there is no light
Where the prisoner will suffer forever
In a place called the endless night
So I've got to endure this prison
And I'll travel another road
And it leads from this earth to heaven
And ends in the presence of God
Oh don't follow that road any farther
Do not do as I have done
Experience is cruel you'll remember
With a lesson no other may learn