The Cremation of Sam McGee

This is a short poem about Sam McGee, a prospector from Tennessee during the Yukon gold rush who died on the trail. Sam McGee feared the icy grave and made his partner Cap promise to cremate him after his death. "A promise made is a debt unpaid" Cap reminds himself as he tells this story of the hardships, both physically and mentally, of fulfilling on the promise to cremate Sam McGee.