Snow! snow! snow!
Before, behind, above, and below,
On rock and mountain and forest tree,
In valley and canon, pit, and rift
And through the air in a merciless drift,
A powdery smoke, that seemed to sift
To the very bones, that none could see
Whither they went, nor where might be
The wallowing path of the Leader's feet,
Right up the mountain barrier, beat.
Snow! snow! snow!
"To the council, hardy warriors! ho!
What word, my Braves, of the better way
To scale the Wahsach's perilous edge
And through the gulfs of the looming ledge
To cleave our path, like a rending wedge?
'Tis deadly to go and death to stay —
Speak, my Delawares! shrewd to say
What path is best in a dubious track,
Where the hungry wolf would turn him back."
"Snow! snow! snow!
My brave Commander, we can not go !
Pits under pits in the white-dark lie,
Gale upon gale is the tempest's shriek,
Cliff upon cliff is the mountain's peak,
And the ridges beyond are sharp and bleak,
The treacherous gulfs will cheat the eye,
Where the struggling hunter will sink and die —
And none shall find his bed in the snow;
My brave Commander, we can not go."
"Snow! snow! snow!
Its terrible barrier well I know,
I see but that in its whirling dance—
But — 'can not?’ — where did my warrior learn
That woman's word? or how to turn
His back to a peril dark and stern?
We can, we must, we WILL advance,
And the Father above shall guide our chance —
Come on! and follow the forward beat
Of my tireless club and my naked feet!"
Snow! snow! snow!
Around, behind, above, and below,
In a whirling cloud of tireless smoke
Over drift and chasm and looming crag,
Where a mountain goat would fail to drag
His powerless feet — ashamed to lag,
They climbed the cliffs as the measured stroke
And tramp of the dauntless Chieftain broke
A path to life, and led them on
To the Home-like fires of the Parawan
Crossing the Wahsach