My Friends

The man above was a murderer

The man below was a thief

And I lay there in the bunk

Between ailing beyond belief

A weary armful of skin and bone

Wasted with pain and grief.

My feet were froze and the lifeless toes

Were purple and green and gray

The little flesh that clung to my bones

You could punch it in holes like clay

The skin on my gums was a sullen black

And slowly peeling away.

I was sure enough in a direful fix

And often I wondered why

They did not take the chance that was left

And leave me alone to die

Or finish me off with a dose of dope

So utterly lost was I.

But no they brewed me the green-spruce tea

And nursed me there like a child

And the homicide he was good to me

And bathed my sores and smiled

And the thief he starved that I might be fed

And his eyes were kind and mild.

Yet they were woefully wicked men

And often at night in pain

I heard the murderer speak of his deed

And dream it over again

I heard the poor thief sorrowing for

The dead self he had slain.

I'll never forget that bitter dawn

So evil askew and gray

When they wrapped me round in the skins of beasts

And bore me to a sleigh

And we started out with the nearest post

A hundred miles away.

I'll never forget the trail they broke

With its tense unuttered woe

And the crunch, crunch, crunch as their snowshoes sank

Through the crust of the hollow snow

And my breath would fail and every beat

Of my heart was like a blow.

And often times I would die the death

Yet wake up to life anew

The sun would be all ablaze on the waste

And the sky a blighting blue

And the tears would rise in my snow-blind eyes

And furrow my cheeks like dew.

And the camps we made when their strength outplayed

And the day was pinched and wan

And oh the joy of the blessed halt

And I did dread the dawn

And how I hated the weary men

Who rose and dragged me on.

And oh how I begged to rest to rest

The snow was so sweet a shroud

And oh how I cried when they urged me on

Cried and cursed them aloud

Yet on they strained all racked and pained

And sorely their backs were bowed.

And then it was all like a lurid dream

And I prayed for a swift release

From the ruthless ones who would not

Leave me to die alone in peace

Till I waked up and I found myself at the post

Of the Mounted Police.

And there was my friend the murderer

And there was my friend the thief

With bracelets of steel around their wrists

And wicked beyond belief

But when they come to God's judgment seat

May I be allowed the brief...