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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE OLD PROSPECTOR, by CHARLES BADGER CLARK JR. Poet's Biography First Line: There's a song in the canyon below me Last Line: I'll follow the trail that I love. Alternate Author Name(s): Clark, Badger Subject(s): Cowboys; Prospecting; Wealth; Riches; Fortunes | |||
There's a song in the canyon below me And a song in the pines overhead, As the sunlight crawls down from the snow-line And rustles the deer from his bed. With mountains of green all around me And mountains of white up above And mountains of blue down the sky-line, I follow the trail that I love. My hands they are hard from the shovel, My leg is rheumatic by streaks And my face it is wrinkled from squintin' At the glint of the sun on the peaks. You pity the prospector sometimes As if he was out of your grade. Why, you are all prospectors, bless you! I'm only a branch of the trade. You prospect for wealth and for wisdom, You prospect for love and for fame; Our work don't just match as to details, But the principle's mostly the same. While I swing a pick in the mountains You slave in the dust and the heat And scratch with your pens for a color And assay the float of the street. You wail that your wisdom is salted, That fame never pays for the mill, That wealth hasn't half enough value To pay you for climbin' the hill. You even say love's El Dorado, A pipe dream that never endures Well, my luck ain't all that I want it, But I never envied you yours. You're welcome to what the town gives you, To prizes of laurel and rose, But leave me the song in the pine tops, The breath of a wind from the snows. With mountains of green all around me And mountains of white up above And mountains of blue down the sky-line, I'll follow the trail that I love. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...ALL LIFE IN A LIFE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS FOUR POEMS ABOUT JAMAICA: 3. A HAIRPIN TURN ABOVE READING, JAMAICA by WILLIAM MATTHEWS IMAGINE YOURSELF by EVE MERRIAM THE PROPHET by LUCILLE CLIFTON I AM FIFTY-TWO YEARS OLD' by KENNETH REXROTH LAST VISIT TO THE SWIMMING POOL SOVIETS by KENNETH REXROTH PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR AS A YOUNG ANARCHIST by KENNETH REXROTH A BORDER AFFAIR by CHARLES BADGER CLARK JR. A BAD HALF HOUR by CHARLES BADGER CLARK JR. A COWBOY'S PRAYER (WRITTEN FOR MOTHER) by CHARLES BADGER CLARK JR. |
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