They rise to mastery of wind and snow; They go like soldiers grimly into strife To colonize the plain. They plough and sow, And fertilize the sod with their own life, As did the Indian and the buffalo.
Collection:
Pioneers
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We had been long in mountain snow, In valleys bleak, and broad, and bare, Where only moss and willows grow, And no bird wings the silent air. And so, when on our downward way Wild roses met us, we were glad: They were so girlish fair, so gay, It seemed the sun had made them mad. |
I saw these dreamers of dreams go by, I trod in their footsteps a space; Each marched with his eyes on the sky, Each passed with a light on his face. They came from the hopeless and sad, They faced the future and gold; Some the tooth of want’s wolf had made mad, And some at the forge had grown... |
Do you fear the force of the wind, The slash of the rain? Go face them and fight them, Be savage again. Go hungry and cold like the wolf, Go wade like the crane: The palms of your hands will thicken, The skin of your cheek will tan, You ’ll grow ragged and weary and swarthy, But you ’ll... |
Beneath the burning brazen sky, The yellowed tepees stand. Not far away a singing river Sets through the sand. Within the shadow of a lonely elm tree The tired ponies keep. The wild land, throbbing with the sun’s hot magic, Is rapt as sleep. From out a clump of scanty willows A low wail floats... |
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“is water nigh?” The plainsmen cry, As they meet and pass in the desert grass. With finger tip Across the lip I ask the sombre Navajo. The brown man smiles and answers “Sho!” With fingers high, he signs the miles To the desert spring, And so we pass in the... |