Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PASSING OF THE PIONEER, by MABEL KINGSLEY RICHARDSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PASSING OF THE PIONEER, by                    
First Line: Open out the window, let him face the west
Last Line: Far he is faring on a new frontier.
Subject(s): Pioneers; Travel; Journeys; Trips


Open out the window, let him face the west;
The setting sun is gilding all his won frontier;
The prairie wind is wailing like a harp distressed,
Heavy with the passing of the pioneer.

Winds that once had whispered of the untried trail,
Telling of adventure in the untilled lands;
Winds he faced and followed, soft chinook and gale,
Beckon now the soul of him with wistful hands.

Suns that journeyed westward as the new days dawned
Led him like a beacon, aye, and lead him yet
To the glory of new mornings that break for him beyond
The drifting, shifting splendor of the spent sunset.

Always farther outward than the steel track ran,
Always past the fetters of the last new fence,
Again he seeks the vision of unbroken span,
Again the singing silence claims obedience.

Comrades, disbelieving, come to call his name again,
Comrades who had shared with him the hard lean years;
Answer there is none to ease their dumb dull pain,
No, nor any drying for his children's tears.

Heedless of all grieving, deaf to song and praise,
Careless of the offering heaped upon his bier,
Eager for the outward trail as in his youthful days,
Far he is faring on a new frontier.





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