Prairie Funeral

C F C It was a funeral on the prairie, all his children gathered round C Put him in a horse drawn wagon, drove him into town C F C In the dark of February snow covered up the ground C F C In a pioneer church made out of sod we sang A Mighty Fortress Is Our God C F C He was born in 1898 when the plains burned red and green C To God fearing pilgrim parents, the twelfth kid of thirteen C F C They broke up that ground yard by yard with a mule and an oxen team C F C Now we’re burying him out on the lone prairie where the coyotes howl and the wind blows free C F C Back at the house we pushed that big oak table against the wall C Built a fire in the cast iron cook stove, made room for one and all C F C The children and grandchildren piled our snow boots in the hall C F C The women worked like an oiled machine; the coffee boiled and the kettle screamed C F C Then the old folks took to telling tales of back when they were young C And it weren't too long before that four string banjo began to strum C F C Mom played the fiddle and my Uncle Lars played his accordion C F C The old farmers cried in their flannel sleeves when we sang that song from the old country C F C That was long ago and as the years go by I still forget he’s gone C But I look out on the open plains and I know his soul lives on C F C He’s the red sky mirrored on the lake, he’s the first cold light of dawn C F C He’s a coyote’s wail, he’s a winter storm, he’s the August wind blowing through the corn