The Cremation of Sam McGee

And that very night, as we lay packed tight in our robes beneath the snow,
And 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, I'm asking that you won't refuse my last request."

Well, he seemed so low that I couldn't say no;
     then he says with a sort of moan,
"It's the cursed cold, and it's got right hold
     till I'm chilled clean through to the bone
Yet 'taint 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 crouched 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.

There wasn't a breath in that land of death,
     and I hurried, horror-driven
With a corpse half hid that I couldn't get rid,
     because of a promise given;
It was lashed to the sleigh, and it seemed to say.
     "You may tax your brawn and brains,
But you promised true, and it's up to you
     to cremate these last remains".

Now a promise made is a debt unpaid,
     and the trail has its own stern code,
In the days to come, though my lips were dumb
     in my heart how I cursed that load!
In the long, long night, by the lone firelight,
     while the huskies, round in a ring,
Howled out their woes to the homeless snows-
     Oh God, how I loathed the thing!

And every day that quiet clay
     seemed to heavy and heavier grow;
And on I went, though the dogs were spent
     and the grub was getting low.
The trail was bad, and I felt half mad,
     but I swore I would not give in;
And I'd often sing to the hateful thing,
     and it hearkened with a grin.

Till I came to the marge of Lake Lebarge,
    and a derelict there lay;
It was jammed in the ice, but I saw in a trice
     it was called the Alice May,
And I looked at it, and I thought a bit,
     and I looked at my frozen chum;
Then "Here", said I, with a sudden cry, 
     "is my  cre-ma-tor-eum"!

Some 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.

Then I made a hike, for I didn't like
     to hear him sizzle so;
And the heavens scowled, and the huskies howled,
     and the wind began to blow,
It was icy cold, but the hot sweat rolled
     down my cheeks, and I don't know why;
And the greasy smoke in an inky cloak
     went streaking down the sky.

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;
I was sick with dread, but I bravely said,
     "I'll just take a peep inside.
I guess he's cooked, and it's time I looked".
     Then the door I opened wide.