Poetry during the Fur Trade

[Leifer]

Came across this excerpt in recent reading. It's part of a poem written by Rufus Sage called "The Hunter's Farewell"

The stars of night his watchers were, --
His fan the rude winds impart, --
And while they sig'd their hollow moans,
He closed his eyes to death.

The Spring shall teach the rising grass
to twine for him a tomb;
And, o'er the spot where he doth lie,
Shall bid the wild flowers bloom.

But, far from friends, and far from home,
Ah, dismal thought, to die!
Oh, let me 'mid my friends expire,
And with my fathers lie.

Came across this while reading "Life in the Early West" by Mike Moore. It's an excerpt from Sage's The Wanderer's Grave, pp. 93-4 [stanzas 4,9 & 10]

Until I came across this I had never really considered poetry to be a part of the Fur Trade context. Is anyone familiar with this particular work by Sage?

Leifer

[Rod]

I've read some of Sage's poetry---he wasn't the only one to wax poetic, here's a sample from James Clyman:

Here lies the bones of old Black Harris
who often traveled beyond the far west
and for the freedom of Equal rights
he crossed the snowy mountain heights.
He was a free and easy kind of soul
especially with a Belly full.


Clyman is one of my favorites among the mountaineers---he was of a quiet, philosophical bent, he goes from describing how he sewed Jed Smith's ear back on after the grizzly had ahold of him, to speculating on the speed of light! A deep thinker, for sure. His diary is well worth a read. The xmission site has part of it, but just his early time in the mountains. The book also has his time as a guide on the Oregon Trail.


user.xmission.com/~drudy/mtman/html/clyman.html

www.alibris.com/Journal-of-a-Mou ... ting*title
Rod