Crossing the Wahsach

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