Lyrics

There was a farmer's daughter who had starry blue eyes
Where the rolling fields of prairie, touched the endless sky
She knew the land she came from, and that a farmer's wife she'd be
Then came a young barnstormer who swept her off her feet

She said goodbye to childhood dreams and said "I'll make your dreams my own
Soaring where the wind blows, your home will be my home"
The wind-swept plains beneath them, they crossed the Kansas sky
Giving wings to farmers' earthbound feet, a dollar fifty ride
chorus:
When the wind blows in Autumn
And the wild geese fly away
It is then that I'll remember...
There came a day his country called and he left for foreign shores
Flying now for freedom in the horror of the war
A hero's cross pinned to his chest, but an angry wound inside
Secrets that she never told, but the tears came at night

When the wind blows in Autumn
And the wild geese fly away
It is then that I'll remember...
A tender heart but a spine of steel, full of laughter, full of faith
Her daughter was my mother and their blood runs in my veins
She left us when the corn was high on a sleepy summer's day
Too young to die in the prime of life, like a bird she flew away

And all I have to remember her is this necklace made of glass
This emerald green, my history, and I wear it like a badge.
Sometimes I wonder who I'd be if she hadn't left so soon
Silent plains and empty skies... fare thee well... Virginia Ruth.