And you, too, banged at the Chilkoot, That rock-locked gate to the golden door! These thunder-built steeps have words built to suit, And whether you prayed or whether you swore 'Twere one where it seemed that an oath was a prayer -- Seemed God couldn't care, Seemed God wasn't there! And you, too, climbed to the Klondyke And talked, as a friend, to those five-horned stars! With muckluck shoon and with talspike You, too, bared head to the bars, The heaven-built bars where morning is born, And drank with maiden morn From Klondyke's golden horn! And you, too, read by the North Lights Such sermons as never men say! You sat and sat with the midnights That sit and that sit all day; You heard the silence, you heard the room, Heard the glory of God in the gloom When the icebergs boom and boom! Then come to my Sunland, my soldier, Aye, come to my heart and to stay; For better crusader or bolder Bared never a breast to the fray. And whether you prayed or whether you cursed You dared the best and you dared the worst That ever brave man durst. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: JOHN CABANIS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS LESSER EPISTLES: TO A LADY ON HER PASSION FOR OLD CHINA by JOHN GAY ODE ON THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER by JORGE MANRIQUE SHE LOOKS BEYOND TO-MORROW by RUTH FITCH BARTLETT TOWERING OVER THE WRECKS OF TIME by JOHN BOWRING A SPRAY OF HONEYSUCKLE by MARY EMILY NEELEY BRADLEY |