Lyrics

The sun was sinking in the west and filled with silvery ray
Near the branches of a forest where a dying ranger lay
Neath the shade of a tall pine forest a sunset silvery sky
Far away from his home in Texas they laid him down to die.

Draw near all to my comrades and listen while I say
I am going to tell a story before it fades away
Away back in the no’rwest Texas beside a churchyard gate
One who for my company with a weary heart does wait.

A fair young girl my sister my only joy and pride
I have reared her up from childhood and I never left her side
Her father he lies sleeping beneath the churchyard sod
And her mother too is resting in the bosom of her dad.

So rangers dying rangers and now she’s left alone
Who will be to her a brother and take her to their home
Out spoke the noble rangers and they answered one and all
We will treat her as a sister til the last one of us fall.

The last wee smile of pleasure on his pale red face did spread
In a twinkling of a shadow the ranger boy was dead
Far away from his home in Texas they laid him down to rest
With a saddle for his pillow and his gun across his breast.

see also   The dying ranger / Joe Doherty (Minogue)