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...LITTLE GIFFEN by FRANCIS ORRERY TICKNOR A MORNING HYMN by CHARLES WESLEY AUTUMN WOODS by ANNA M. ACKERMANN A RHAPSODY by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT HIS VICTORY by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE HELL AND HATE by ROBERT SEYMOUR BRIDGES THE AUTHOR'S EARNEST CRY AND PRAYER by ROBERT BURNS |