For my best friend and me..
The unfinished song from the Iron Heel by Jack London
Joy upon joy
and gain upon gain
Are the destined rights of my birth,
And I shout the praise
of my endless days
To the echoing edge of the earth.
Though I suffer all deaths
that a man can die
To the uttermost end of time,
I have deep drained this,
my cup of bliss,
In every age and clime
The froth of Pride,
the tang of Power,
The sweet of Womanhood !
I drain the lees
upon my knees,
For oh, the draught is good;
I drink to Life,
I drink to Death,
And smack my lips with song,
For when I die
another 'I'
shall pass the cup along.
'The man you drove
from Eden's grove
Was I, my Lord, was I,
And i shall be there
when the earth and the air
Are rent from sea to sky;
For it is my world,
my gorgeous world,
The world of my dearest woes,
From the first faint cry
of the newborn I
To the rack of the woman's throes.
Packed with the pulse
of an unborn race,
Torn with a world's desire.
The surging flood
of my wild young blood
Would quench the judgment fire.
I am Man, Man, Man,
from the tingling flesh
To the dust of earthly goal,
From the nesting gloom
of the pregnant womb
To the sheen of my naked soul.
Bone of my bone
and flesh of my flesh
The whole world leaps to my will,
And the unslaked thirst
of an Eden cursed
Shall harrow the earth to its fill
Almighty God,
when I drain life's glass
Of all its rainbow gleams,
The hopeless plight
of eternal night
Shall be none too long for my dreams.
'The man you drove
from Eden's grove
Was I, my Lord, was I,
And i shall be there
when the earth and the air
Are rent from sea to sky;
For it is my world,
my gorgeous world,
The world of my dear delight,
From the brightest gleam
of the Arctic stream
To the dusk of my own love-night
El Dorado
Gaily bedight,
A gallant night
In sunshine and in shadow,
Had journeyed long,
Singing a song,
In search of El Dorado.
But he grew old --
This knight so bold --
And -- o'er his heart a shadow
Fell as he found
No spot of ground
That looked like El Dorado.
And, as his strength
Failed him at length,
He met a pilgrim shadow --
"Shadow," said he,
"Where can it be --
This land of El Dorado?"
"Over the Mountains
Of the Moon,
Down the Valley of the Shadow,
Ride, boldly ride,"
The shade replied --
"If you seek for El Dorado."