The snow falls on the pa**es
And it covers up the rails
And the hired men ride up to make them clean
It's a winter camp and a frozen damp
And a shovel in your hand
And a coal train comes rumbling through the seam
That morning came up shining
Clear and sharp as broken gla**
We were riding for the tracks at Sugaree
All holler and high spirit
And the devil take the last
And Henry lay a wager then to me
He said "I've got five dollars
And a whiskey at the bar
Says I make the tracks ahead of you"
So we touched our horses up
Sent them running down the hill
And I did something I never meant to do
Well I cut hard behind him
From his blind side I come around
Just as we were going down the scree
I only meant to scare him but he tumbled to the ground
And he broke his neck beneath the doubletree
So you take him cut him out in a length of pine
Lay him out in a suit of clothes
Best that you can find
Lay his body gentle in the ground
And say a prayer for Henry
Before you lay him down
The night before poor Henry died
We slept on open ground
The circus of the stars a blaze of white
Henry was the best friend that I ever had
And I slept still as a child that night