Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE PRAIRIE SCHOONER, by EDWARD EVERETT DALE First Line: When I see a prairie schooner Last Line: With the tongue a-pointing west. Subject(s): Conestoga Wagons; Pioneers; West (u.s.); Prairie Schooners; Southwest; Pacific States | ||||||||
WHEN I see a prairie schooner With the tongue a-pointing west, What a mighty nameless longing Always swells and fills my breast; For it's headed toward a country I shall always love the best, Toward a land of stars and sunshine, Toward the prairies of the West. It's a wide and wondrous region; Naught its virgin beauty mars Where the plains are strewn with blossoms As the sky is strewn with stars, Where the air so keen and bracing Gives to life a joy and zest, Makes the pulses leap and tingle; In the blood there runs the West. And I know within the schooner 'Neath its cover worn and brown, There are hearts with hope a-tingle, There is faith that will not down. Though a man may meet misfortune, Failure never is confessed When he mounts a prairie schooner With the tongue a-pointing west. So when from the ties that bind me I at last shall break away, Leave each sordid task behind me, As I surely shall some day, When I choose a craft for cruising, Love or Fortune as my quest, It will be a prairie schooner With the tongue a-pointing west. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...WESTERN WAGONS by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET DRIVING WEST IN 1970 by ROBERT BLY IN THE HELLGATE WIND by MADELINE DEFREES A PERIOD PORTRAIT OF SYMPATHY by EDWARD DORN ASSORTED COMPLIMENTS by EDWARD DORN AT THE COWBOY PANEL by EDWARD DORN |
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