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

[Verse 2]
       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

[Verse 3]
     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

[Verse 4]
         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

[Verse 5]
         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