Pioneers! O Pioneers!
PIONEERS!
O PIONEERS!
1
COME, my tan-faced children, Follow well in order, get your weapons ready; Have you your pistols? have you your sharp edgedaxes?
Pioneers! O pioneers!
2
For we cannot tarry here, We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt ofdanger, We, the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
3
O you youths, western youths, So impatient, full of action, full of manly pride andfriendship, Plain I see you, western youths, see you tramping with
the foremost,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
4
Have the elder races halted? Do they droop and end their lesson, wearied, over therebeyond the seas? We take up the task eternal, and the burden, and the
lesson,
Pioneers! O pioneers! [ begin page 26a ]
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5
All the past we leave behind; We debouch upon a newer, mightier world, variedworld; Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labor and
the march,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
6
We detachments steady throwing, Down the edges, through the passes, up the mountainssteep, Conquering, holding, daring, venturing, as we go, the
unknown ways,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
7
We primeval forests felling, We the rivers stemming, vexing we, and piercing deepthe mines within; We the surface broad surveying, and the virgin soil up-
heaving,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
8
Colorado men are we, From the peaks gigantic, from the great sierras and thehigh plateaus, From the mine and from the gully, from the hunting
trail we come,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
9
From Nebraska, from Arkansas, Central inland race are we, from Missouri, with the con-tinental blood intervein'd; All the hands of comrades clasping, all the Southern, all
the Northern,
Pioneers! O pioneers! [ begin page 27a ]
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10
O resistless, restless race! O beloved race in all! O my breast aches with tenderlove for all! O I mourn and yet exult—I am rapt with love for all,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
11
Raise the mighty mother mistress, Waving high the delicate mistress, over all the starrymistress, (bend your heads all,) Raise the fang'd and warlike mistress, stern, impassive,
weapon'd mistress,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
12
See, my children, resolute children, By those swarms upon our rear, we must never yield orfalter, Ages back in ghostly millions, frowning there behind us
urging,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
13
On and on, the compact ranks, With accessions ever waiting, with the places of thedead quickly fill'd, Through the battle, through defeat, moving yet and
never stopping,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
14
O to die advancing on! Are there some of us to droop and die? has the hourcome? Then upon the march we fittest die, soon and sure the
gap is fill'd,
Pioneers! O pioneers! [ begin page 28a ]
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15
All the pulses of the world, Falling in, they beat for us, with the western movementbeat; Holding single or together, steady moving, to the front,
all for us,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
16
Life's involv'd and varied pageants, All the forms and shows, all the workmen at theirwork, All the seamen and the landsmen, all the masters with
their slaves,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
17
All the hapless silent lovers, All the prisoners in the prisons, all the righteous andthe wicked, All the joyous, all the sorrowing, all the living, all the
dying,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
18
I too with my soul and body, We, a curious trio, picking, wandering on our way, Through these shores, amid the shadows, with theapparitions pressing,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
19
Lo! the darting bowling orb! Lo! the brother orbs around! all the clustering suns andplanets; All the dazzling days, all the mystic nights with dreams,
Pioneers! O pioneers! [ begin page 29a ]
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20
These are of us, they are with us, All for primal needed work, while the followers there inembryo wait behind, We to-day's procession heading, we the route for travel
clearing,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
21
O you daughters of the west! O you young and elder daughters! O you mothers andyou wives! Never must you be divided, in our ranks you move
united,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
22
Minstrels latent on the prairies! (Shrouded bards of other lands! you may sleep—youhave done your work;) Soon I hear you coming warbling, soon you rise and
tramp amid us,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
23
Not for delectations sweet; Not the cushion and the slipper, not the peaceful andthe studious; Not the riches safe and palling, not for us the tame en-
joyment,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
24
Do the feasters gluttonous feast? Do the corpulent sleepers sleep? have they lock'd andbolted doors? Still be ours the diet hard, and the blanket on the
ground,
Pioneers! O pioneers! [ begin page 30a ]
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25
Has the night descended? Was the road of late so toilsome? did we stop discour-aged, nodding on our way? Yet a passing hour I yield you, in your tracks to pause
oblivious,
Pioneers! O pioneers!
26
Till with sound of trumpet, Far, far off the day-break call—hark! how loud andclear I hear it wind; Swift! to the head of the army!—swift! spring to
your places,
Pioneers! O pioneers!