Out of the east they came, the strong, wise men, Marking the trail for the followers, frost of wind White on their wind-flown beards; the prairies, thinned By drouth, they spurned with feet made proud again To step to the drums of danger. Young in heart They climbed the granite ridges, leaped the rivers, Fought the snow in the passes; generous givers Of life to the lives of men. Of joy, a part, And of love, a part, and part, too, of all song, They came and bred in the land and built their houses Of log and stone, tilled the valleys, sowed the long Denuded slopes, reaped harvests ... now carouses The wind in their empty fields, lost to the breath Of dream and song, tilled now of the tiller, death! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LOVE IN BLACK AND WHITE by KAREN SWENSON THE SEALS IN PENOBSCOT BAY by KAREN SWENSON THE USE OF FLOWERS by MARY HOWITT THE EMPEROR'S BIRD'S-NEST by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW CASEY AT THE BAT (1) by ERNEST LAWRENCE THAYER ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS: PART 1: 16. PERSUASION by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH |