Bury Me Not on the Lone Prarie - Tex Ritter

«O bury me not on the lone prairie.»

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