And the words my mother said!
We have toiled and striven and fought it out
Under the hard blue sky,
Where the plains glowed red in tremulous light,
Where the haunting mirage mocked the sight
Of desperate men from morn till night,—
And the streams had long been dry.
Where we dug for gold on the mountain-side,
Where the ice-fed river ran;
In frost and blast, through fire and snow,