L'Envoi (Songs of a Sourdough)

You who have lived in the Land,     You who have trusted the trail;     You who are strong to withstand,     You who are swift to assail;     Songs have I sung to beguile,     Vintage of desperate years     Hard as a harlot's smile,     Bitter as unshed tears.         Little of joy or mirth,          Little of ease I sing;         Sagas of men of earth,          Humanly suffering,         Such as you all have done;          Savagely faring forth,         Sons of the midnight sun,          Argonauts of the North.     Far in the land God forgot     Glimmers the lure of your trail;     Still in your lust are you taught     Even to win is to fail.     Still must you follow and fight     Under the vampire wing;     There in the long, long night     Hoping and vanquishing.         Husbandmen of the Wild,          Reaping a barren gain;         Scourged by desire, reconciled          Unto disaster and pain;         These my songs are for you,          You who are seared with the brand:         God knows I have tried to be true;          Please God you will understand.