Doubletree (Foucault Jeffrey)

The snow falls on the passes 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 glass 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