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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 edged          axes?          Pioneers! O pioneers!

2

   For we cannot tarry here,

We must march my darlings, we must bear the brunt of          danger,

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 and          friendship,

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 there          beyond the seas?

We take up the task eternal, and the burden, and the          lesson,          Pioneers! O pioneers!

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5

   All the past we leave behind;

We debouch upon a newer, mightier world, varied          world;

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 mountains          steep,

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 deep          the 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 the          high 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!

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10

   O resistless, restless race!

O beloved race in all! O my breast aches with tender          love 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 starry          mistress, (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 or          falter,

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 the          dead 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 hour          come?

Then upon the march we fittest die, soon and sure the          gap is fill'd,          Pioneers! O pioneers!

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15

   All the pulses of the world,

Falling in, they beat for us, with the western movement          beat;

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 their          work,

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 and          the 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 the          apparitions pressing,          Pioneers! O pioneers!

19

   Lo! the darting bowling orb!

Lo! the brother orbs around! all the clustering suns and          planets;

All the dazzling days, all the mystic nights with dreams,          Pioneers! O pioneers!

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20

   These are of us, they are with us,

All for primal needed work, while the followers there in          embryo 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 and          you 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—you          have 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 and          the 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 and          bolted doors?

Still be ours the diet hard, and the blanket on the          ground,          Pioneers! O pioneers!

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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 and          clear I hear it wind;

Swift! to the head of the army!—swift! spring to          your places,          Pioneers! O pioneers!

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