Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie

<p>[Spoken: A Cowboy&#x27;s Prayer]<br/>Lord, I&#x27;ve never lived where churches grow<br/>I loved creation better as it stood<br/>That day you finished it so long ago<br/>And looked upon your work and called it good<br/><br/>I know that others find you in the light<br/>That sifted down through tinted window panes<br/>And yet I seem to feel you near tonight<br/>In this dim, quiet starlight on the plains<br/><br/>I thank you, Lord, that I&#x27;m placed so well<br/>That you&#x27;ve made my freedom so complete<br/>That I&#x27;m no slave to whistle, clock or bell<br/>Nor weak-eyed prisoner of Waller Street<br/>Just let me live my life as I&#x27;ve begun<br/>And give me work that&#x27;s open to the sky<br/>Make me a partner of the wind and sun<br/>And I won&#x27;t ask a life that&#x27;s soft or high<br/><br/>Let me be easy on the man that&#x27;s down<br/>Let me be square and generous with all<br/>I&#x27;m careless sometimes, Lord, when I&#x27;m in town<br/>But never let them say I&#x27;m mean or smal<br/><br/>Make me as big and open as the plains<br/>And honest as the horse between my knees<br/>Clean as a wind that blows behind the rains<br/>Free as the hawk that circles down the breeze<br/><br/>Forgive me, Lord, if sometimes I forget<br/>You know about the reasons that are hid<br/>You understand the things that gall or fret<br/>Well, you knew me better than my mother did<br/><br/>Just keep an eye on all that&#x27;s done or said<br/>And right me sometimes when I turn aside<br/>And guide me on that long, dim trail ahead<br/>That stretched upward toward the great divide<br/><br/>[Chorus]<br/>&quot;Oh, bury me not on the lone prairie&quot;<br/>These words came low and mournfully<br/>From the pallid lips of a youth who lay<br/>On his dying bed at the close of day<br/>&quot;Oh, bury me not...&quot; - and his voice failed there<br/>But we took no heed to his dying prayer<br/>In a shallow grave, just six by three<br/>We buried him there on the lone prairie