These words came low and mournfully
From the pallid lips of the youth who lay
On his dying bed at the close of day
He had wasted and pined 'til o'er his brow
Death's shades were slowly gathering now
He thought of home and loved ones nigh
As the cowboys gathered to see him die
"O bury me not on the lone prairie
Where coyotes howl and the wind blows free
In a narrow grave just six by three—
O bury me not on the lone prairie"
"It matters not, I've been told
Where the body lies when the heart grows cold
Yet grant, o grant, this wish to me
O bury me not on the lone prairie."
"I've always wished to be laid when I died
In a little churchyard on the green hillside
By my father's grave, there let me be
O bury me not on the lone prairie."
"I wish to lie where a mother's prayer
And a sister's tear will mingle there
Where friends can come and weep o'er me
O bury me not on the lone prairie."
"For there's another whose tears will shed
For the one who lies in a prairie bed
It breaks me heart to think of her now
She has curled these locks, she has kissed this brow."
"O bury me not..." And his voice failed there
But they took no heed to his dying prayer
In a narrow grave, just six by three
They buried him there on the lone prairie
And the cowboys now as they roam the plain
For they marked the spot where his bones were lain
Fling a handful o' roses o'er his grave
With a prayer to God his soul to save