The End of the Trail
Sunset—and the end of the Trail;
Here the last faint footsteps fail
And I go on alone
Into the untracked ways;
I who in other days
Blazed many a road straight up
To the peaks that touch the sun—
But now is the climbing done.
No more to my feet the trail;
No more to my hand the rein;
No more—Ah! never again
The sun and the wind, and free!
The far stars over me!
As the Wilderness called I went;
Now deep and solemn and low
A Mightier calls—and I go.
Nor guide nor compass nor sign;
Face out, to the uttermost dark;
And the wind in the strong boughs—Hark!
Paean and dirge for a king!
Life, I have loved you well;
Forget the rest when you tell—
This soul did not falter, nor quail,
Nor shrink at the end of the Trail.