Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE SONG OF THE PIONEER, by WILLIAM STEWARD GORDON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE SONG OF THE PIONEER, by                    
First Line: I would sing a song for the pioneer
Last Line: To the honored pioneer.
Subject(s): Pioneers


I would sing a song for the pioneer,
That sturdy soul and bold,
Whose rugged worth to the western world
Has never half been told.

With buckskin leggins, belt and knife,
And trusted rifle true,
He coped with nature, beasts, and men,
And came out victor, too.

He often ate but once a day,
And shivered in the rain,
But whistled till the sun came out,
Nor thought of it again.

But the panorama changes soon—
The trappers disappear—
For red adventure is not all
That makes a pioneer.

Methinks I see a cattle team
Crawl up the Rocky's crest,
And with its freight a wife and child
And the future of the West.

O'er alkali, o'er marsh and moor,
And roaring canyons deep,
Mid panther screams and Indian yells
Their lonely camp they keep.

And suns they rise and suns they set,
But westward still and on,
Till the road fades into a winding trail,
And the trail itself is gone.

Through bristling forest dense and dim
They hew a path to the sea,
And blaze a way for the march of men
And the millions yet to be.

For civilization followed fast
These men of brawn and brain,
And o'er their trail the iron horse
Soon galloped with his train.

Their fathers won the eastern coast,
With its barren hills and ice,
But these subdued a better land—
The western paradise.

But where are now those fearless souls
Of fifty-two and three?
Meek, Nesmith, Lee, and Applegate,
And a score of their degree?

They rode the gaunt, black horse of death
Over the great divide—
They scaled the purple peaks of time
And camped on the farther side.

And only a remnant now remains
Of the men of '53,
But the work they did will stand secure
Till time has ceased to be.

Then let us lift our hats to them,
Nor stop the falling tear,
And pay our debt of gratitude
To the honored pioneer.





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