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THE DYING COWBOY (OH, BURY ME NOT ON THE LONE PRAIRIE; THE OCEAN BURIAL; THE LONE PRAIRIE) Sung by: Roberta and Bob Blair Recorded in Pleasant Grove, AR, 7/5/52 Click here to listen to the original recording These words came slow but mournfully From the pallid lips of a youth who lay On his dying bed at the close of day. "Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie, Where the wild coyotes will howl o'er me-- Where the cold wind sweeps and the grasses wave-- No sunbeams rest on the prairie grave." He has wasted and pined 'til over his brow A shadow's slowly gathering now. He thought of his home with his loved ones nigh, As the cowboys gather to see him die. Again he listened to the well-known words, To the wind's soft sigh and the song of a bird. He thought of his home and his native bowers, Where he loved to roam in his childhood hours. "I've often wished that when I died, My grave might be on the old hillside. Let there the place of my last rest be; Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie. "O'er me slumbers a mother's prayer, And a sister's tears will be mingled there, For I'm glad to know that the heart throbs o'er, And that its fountain will gush no more. "In my dreams I saw . . ." but his voice failed there, And they gave no heed to his dying prayer. In a narrow grave six feet by three, They buried him there on the lone prairie. May the light-winged butterfly pause to rest Over him who sleeps on the prairie crest. May the Texas rose in the breezes wave Over him who sleeps on the prairie grave. And the cowboys as they roam the plain, For they've marked the spot where his bones have lain, Fling a handful of roses o'er his grave With a prayer to Him whose soul He might save. Also found in Randolph, Vol. II, #184, "Oh Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie"; Brown, Vol. II, #261, "The Ocean Burial"; Brown, Vol. II, #262, "The Lone Prairie"; Belden, p. 387, "The Lone Prairie." |
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All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., unless otherwise noted The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas Back to the Song Index Back to the Wolf Collection Homepage ©Copyright 2002 Lyon College |