HIS SEARCH FOR GOLD
He came down from the Klondike
Brief days ago,
Bowed down by tribulations,
Weighted with human woe,—
Where he had cast his fortune
’Mid fields of ice and snow.
He left his friends and kinsmen
And a happy home
To fill his life with that adventure
Told of in a Wild West tome,
But wandered unsuccessfully
From Yukon to Cape Nome.
He searched the fields of Yukon
With few supplies,
And camped beside its shallows
Where little Yukons rise,
But missed that mine of nuggets
Which in that gold field lies.
He tramped amid the mountains
From Spring till Fall,
He strode the great crevasses
And crossed the rivers all,
The wealth he sought was spacious
But what he got was small.
He drank the wines of Dawson
And Behring’s Strait,
And stronger drinks did capture him
In camp on White Horse Lake;
He cursed the luck that sent him thither
A deep inebriate.
He felt the pangs of hunger
And northern cold,
As oft his comrades perished
Around the camp fires’ mold
And false guides led them to destruction
In their search for Yukon gold.
He came down from the Klondike
Brief days before,
Bearing the resolution,
Tested and tried of yore,
To earn a humble living
And search for gold no more.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE:
The cover image for this eBook was created by the transcriber and is entered into the public domain.