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