Face Down In Four Feet Of Snow

It's weird sometimes how ideas come to you.

This morning I was getting for ready work, and while showering, I started making up this song.

Okay – pretend I said I made it up shoveling the driveway – that's a better mental image. Sorry.

It's been in my head all day – and it had a tune like an old Tennessee bluegrass mountain song with banjos and fiddles – I don't know why. But since I can't write music and you surely do not want to here me sing, let me share the verses with you in the form of a poem.

Again, I have no idea why I made this up.

But it sure was fun. I hope you like it.

Feel free to sing it in the shower.

Face Down In Four Feet Of Snow

Old Jebs been dead since two weeks ago

I gotta go bury Jeb in four feet of snow

Jeb died after livin a pretty good life

Had good children and he had a good wife

We come up north to go lookin for gold

But rocks is all we found, if the truth be told

Two weeks ago when we got this big snow

Jeb left the cabin cause he really had to go

I found Jeb an hour later, he was frozen up stiff

With his old worn boots stickin out a snow drift

I found Jeb dead, face down out in the snow

It was horrible dang cold – 'bout fifteen below

So I dragged Jeb in the cabin, no place else to go

He's been here since cause we got this snow

I wrote a letter to his children and a letter to his wife

Explaining best I can that Jeb loved his life

Explaining to them about not finding any gold

Explaining to them that Jeb didn't like the cold

And I told bout how he loved them very much

And bout how he always talked all bout them 'n such

And that I'm sorry bout Jeb dying out in that snow

How his last breath of air was fifteen below

But I can't mail the letter till I get into town

And I can't get to town with all this snow on the ground

The mule that we had died about four weeks ago

Cause we couldn't feed the mule cause our rations was so low

So I gotta find a way to get to town in all this snow

But I gotta bury Jeb before I can go

Cause if I don't make it and I freeze to death too

Then I aint no use to no one if I'm all frozed up and blue

So I'll put on my boots and my coat to protect me from the cold

And I'll grab my diggin shovel that never found us any gold

And I'll dig a hole in the frozen earth to put Jeb in

I'll cover up the hole and I'll come back in

Well, I'm back inside from burying Jeb in the snow

Took me four hours but he's at peace now

He's buried down deep in the frozen cold

But while I was diggin Jeb's grave, I finally struck gold