Marking the Trail

By Rachel G. Taylor

With pen, with sword, with song,
We glory in the story of the path
Our fathers made across this land –
As deeply in the earth they etched with rimmed wheels
And weary feet,
A hallowed trail.

Oh! shall we let the silent, sleepless years,
With storm, with dust, with seed,
Wipe out all trace of freedom’s pilgrimage?
Or shall the fruitful love we feel,
Mark well, for generations yet unborn,
Our epoch making trail?

(1931)