Where the ragged, snow-capped saw tooth Cuts the azure of the
And watches o'er the lonely land As ages wander by;
Where the sentinel pines in grandeur Murmur to the glacier
As it, ice-gorged, gluts the canyon, Never brightened by the
Of sun at brightest noon day, Nor moon of Arctic night,
And whose only link with Heaven Is the fitful Northern Light.
Where the Whistler shrills in triumph And the Big Horn dreams in peace,
Where the Brown Bear skulks to cover Up where silence holds the lease;
Where the land is as God left it Nor has known the tread of man,
There's a treasure ledge a-waiting-- Go and find it if you can.
If your heart be steeled to triumph Nor beats less at your defeat;
Can you watch your whole world melt away And still smiling, fortune greet?
Will your heart and brain and sinew Crowd you on, when hunger's
Gnaws your belly and you're beaten, Can you lose, and fight again?
Can you raise the cup of fortune To your lips and bravely
The draught she has prepared for you And win or lose and laugh?
Can you see the fruits of hardships Centered on one desperate
And know Fate's dice are loaded Nor curse to see them go?
Then take your burden up again And stagger up the trail,
You're bound to make a winning Cause you don't know how to fail.
I, who've spent my youth in following The lure of hidden
Must pass the buck to Nature And admit I'm growing old.
And yet each spring I hear it calling And it's music to my ears,
The call of lonely places That I've listened to for years.
It's cost me all most men hold dear Some forty years of life,
And all the joys that others get In babies, home, and wife.
My life's been all to-morrows And my family only
And to the average plodder I've missed it all it seems.
Still,
I've never taken orders And I've always liked the game,
And if life could be lived over, Why,--I'd live it just the same.
