The Cremation of Sam McGee

There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By men who moil for gold
The Arctic trails have secret tales
That'd make your blood run cold
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights
But the queerest they e'er did see
Was the night on the marge of lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee

Now Sam McGee was from Tennessee, where the cotton blooms and blows
Why he left his home in the South to roam
'round the Pole, God only knows
He was always cold
But the land of gold seemed to hold him like a spell
Though he'd often say in his homely way
That; "he'd sooner live in hell"

That very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow
The dogs were fed, and the stars o'erhead were dancing heel and toe
He turned to me, and "Cap," says he, "I'll cash in this trip, I guess
And if I do, Well I'll ask that you won't refuse my last request"
Well, he seemed so low that I could not say no
Then he says with a sort of moan
"It's the cursèd cold, and it's got right hold
Till I'm chilled clean through to the bone
Yet 'tain't being dead
It's my awful dread of the icy grave that pains
So I want you to swear that, foul or fair
You'll cremate my last remains"

A pal's last need is a thing to heed, so I swore I would not fail
And we started on at the streak of dawn but God he looked ghastly pale
He crashed on the sleigh, and he raved all day
Of his home in Tennessee
And before nightfall a corpse was all that was left of Sam McGee

The planks I tore from the cabin floor, and I lit the boiler fire
Some coal I found that was lying around, and I heaped the fuel higher
The flames just soared
And the furnace roared such a blaze you seldom see
And I burrowed a hole in the glowing coal, and I stuffed in Sam McGee

I do not know how long in the snow I wrestled with grisly fear
But the stars came out and they danced about
'Ere again I ventured near
Sick with dread, but I bravely said: "I'll just take a peep inside
I guess he is cooked and it's time I looked"
Then the door I opened wide
And there sat Sam, looking cool and calm
In the heart of the furnace roar
He wore a smile you could see for a mile, and he said
"Please close that door
It's fine in here, but I greatly fear you'll let in the cold and storm
Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee
It's the first time I've been warm"
Since I left Plumtree, down in Tennessee
It's the first time I've been warm