Sherry's letter
No. 302 "Oriental Bloom"
from an original painted by
Foot Painter
#LaBelleEpoque #35
"Handwritten Poem on Index Card"
©2015 Sherry Zhong
Text ©1991 Lucille Clifton (1936 - 2010)
Playlist:
Oxford Comma
Vampire Weekend
Northwest Passage
Stan Rogers and friends
©1981 Stan Rogers
chorus:
Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wide and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea.
To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea;
Tracing one warm line through a land so wide and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea.
Westward from the Davis Strait 'tis there 'twas said to lie
The sea route to the Orient for which so many died;
Seeking gold and glory, leaving weathered, broken bones
And a long-forgotten lonely cairn of stones.
The sea route to the Orient for which so many died;
Seeking gold and glory, leaving weathered, broken bones
And a long-forgotten lonely cairn of stones.
chorus
Three centuries thereafter, I take passage overland
In the footsteps of brave Kelso, where his "sea of flowers" began
Watching cities rise before me, then behind me sink again
This tardiest explorer, driving hard across the plain.
In the footsteps of brave Kelso, where his "sea of flowers" began
Watching cities rise before me, then behind me sink again
This tardiest explorer, driving hard across the plain.
chorus
And through the night, behind the wheel, the mileage clicking west
I think upon Mackenzie, David Thompson and the rest
Who cracked the mountain ramparts and did show a path for me
To race the roaring Fraser to the sea.
I think upon Mackenzie, David Thompson and the rest
Who cracked the mountain ramparts and did show a path for me
To race the roaring Fraser to the sea.
chorus
How then am I so different from the first men through this way?
Like them, I left a settled life, I threw it all away.
To seek a Northwest Passage at the call of many men
To find there but the road back home again.
Like them, I left a settled life, I threw it all away.
To seek a Northwest Passage at the call of many men
To find there but the road back home again.
chorus
2 comments:
Ah, Stan Rogers! This song is a favorite of mine. Even Tom knows all the words. We sing it on road trips. Also Lord Franklin:
It was homeward bound one night on the deep,
Swinging in my hammock, I fell asleep;
I dreamed a dream and I thought it true,
Concerning Franklin and his gallant crew.
With a hundred sailors he sailed away,
The frozen ocean in the month of may,
To seek a passage around the pole,
Where we poor sailors sometimes have to go.
Through cruel hardships they vainly strove;
Their ship on mountains of ice was drove;
Only the Indian with his skin canoe,
Was the only one that ever came through.
In Baffin bay where the whale-fish blow
The fate of Franklin, no man may know;
The fate of Franklin, no tongue may tell,
Where Franklin along with his sailors does dwell.
And now my burden, it brings me pain;
For my long, lost Franklin I would cross the main;
Ten thousand guineas I would freely give
To say on Earth that my Franklin does live.
Thank you for this suggestion!
I had forgotten that we "sang" this on the way home from the Chenenceau road trip, though I don't recall Tom singing.
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