Sample Pages
Homeward
The long months of waiting and
Miserable weather are behind us
As we strain against the waters of the Columbia.
Hardships lie ahead;
Memories of near starvation still fresh.
Our food supply is low and
Prospects for more are dim.
Mother Nature jealously guards
Her meager larder so we must compete
With many others for what remains.
Not til we have overcome the Rockies
And regained the plains beyond
Where spring rains have worked their magic
And the lands give forth their bounty
Will we once again sleep with full bellies.
But we have traversed the course before
Conquering hardship and unknown.
Going home is easier.
To the Corps
How do you build a team to survive
Alone in an unknown land
Full of every peril imaginable;
A team that can
Overcome all the obstacles of
Danger, starvation, and tests of nature
And continue on their way;
A team that will understand the need
For leaders and followers
And perform the jobs they each must do
Regardless of difficulties and fatigue
And injury that surely will come?
Jefferson started with the military tradition
But added some elements of his own;
He allowed them to vary as needed
To get the job done.
A combination of military and civilian men
That knew how to survive in frontier lands;
The training that followed, along with
Firm discipline applied as needed
By free thinking officers not bound by convention
Formed a new kind of military unit and
Bonded the Corps together for success.
At the End
When it was done
And they sat down to wright
What thoughts and feelings
Ran through their heads;
Were the Captains and the men
Just glad to be done with that torturous trek;
Giddy with success of a job well done
And eager to be off to whatever lay ahead?
Or was it a bittersweet end of
Friendships made
Experiences shared;
The tearing of bonds
Between those who had spent years as a team
Depending on each other to overcome
The obstacles they faced
As they journeyed across the unknown.
After all they had done together could they
Walk away without further thoughts
Of the other men of their brotherhood?
Was the ideal of solitary individualism
So ingrained in their characters that
The discipline of building the Corps could
So easily give way
When the need for a team was done?
The long months of waiting and
Miserable weather are behind us
As we strain against the waters of the Columbia.
Hardships lie ahead;
Memories of near starvation still fresh.
Our food supply is low and
Prospects for more are dim.
Mother Nature jealously guards
Her meager larder so we must compete
With many others for what remains.
Not til we have overcome the Rockies
And regained the plains beyond
Where spring rains have worked their magic
And the lands give forth their bounty
Will we once again sleep with full bellies.
But we have traversed the course before
Conquering hardship and unknown.
Going home is easier.
To the Corps
How do you build a team to survive
Alone in an unknown land
Full of every peril imaginable;
A team that can
Overcome all the obstacles of
Danger, starvation, and tests of nature
And continue on their way;
A team that will understand the need
For leaders and followers
And perform the jobs they each must do
Regardless of difficulties and fatigue
And injury that surely will come?
Jefferson started with the military tradition
But added some elements of his own;
He allowed them to vary as needed
To get the job done.
A combination of military and civilian men
That knew how to survive in frontier lands;
The training that followed, along with
Firm discipline applied as needed
By free thinking officers not bound by convention
Formed a new kind of military unit and
Bonded the Corps together for success.
At the End
When it was done
And they sat down to wright
What thoughts and feelings
Ran through their heads;
Were the Captains and the men
Just glad to be done with that torturous trek;
Giddy with success of a job well done
And eager to be off to whatever lay ahead?
Or was it a bittersweet end of
Friendships made
Experiences shared;
The tearing of bonds
Between those who had spent years as a team
Depending on each other to overcome
The obstacles they faced
As they journeyed across the unknown.
After all they had done together could they
Walk away without further thoughts
Of the other men of their brotherhood?
Was the ideal of solitary individualism
So ingrained in their characters that
The discipline of building the Corps could
So easily give way
When the need for a team was done?