Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE GOLD-SEEKERS, by HAMLIN GARLAND Poet's Biography First Line: I saw these dreamers of dreams go by Last Line: Though the gold of the dice has been lost. Subject(s): California - Gold Discoveries; Gold Rush; Forty-niners | ||||||||
I SAW these dreamers of dreams go by, I trod in their footsteps a space; Each marched with his eyes on the sky, Each passed with a light on his face. They came from the hopeless and sad, They faced the future and gold; Some the tooth of want's wolf had made mad, And some at the forge had grown old. Behind them these serfs of the tool The rags of their service had flung; No longer of fortune the fool, This word from each bearded lip rung: "Once more I'm a man, I am free! No man is my master, I say; To-morrow I fail, it may be, -- No matter, I'm freeman to-day." They go to a toil that is sure, To despair and hunger and cold; Their sickness no warning can cure, They are mad with a longing for gold. The light will fade from each eye, The smile from each face; They will curse the impassable sky, And the earth when the snow torrents race. Some will sink by the way and be laid In the frost of the desolate earth; And some will return to a maid, Empty of hand as at birth. But this out of all will remain, They have lived and have tossed; So much in the game will be gain, Though the gold of the dice has been lost. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A GOLDEN DREAM by KATHRYN ROESER DUNLAP SUTTER'S FORT, SACRAMENTO by LUCIUS HARWOOD FOOTE BALLAD OF THE GOLD COUNTRY by HELEN MARIA HUNT FISKE JACKSON THE GOLD THAT GREW BY SHASTA TOWN by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER THE MEN OF FORTY-NINE by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER TO THE PIONEERS by CINCINNATUS HEINE MILLER THE DAYS OF '49 by CHARLEY RHODES THE YUKON'S SONG OF THE GOLD by AMELIA WOODWARD TRUESDELL A TRIBUTE OF GRASSES by HAMLIN GARLAND |
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