AN APOSTROPHE TO WYOMING
By Addie E. Holmberg, no date.
Awake! Fair Lady, of a sovereign sisterhood!
Wyoming, brightest, though a later star!
Who, that upon your Rocky peaks have stood,
Can fail to feel your glories, beyond par!
Behold! What record of Titanic birth,
Tremendous throes! The labor pangs of Earth,
That rent the vitals of the whirling sphere,
And brought to being the great wonderland!
None may o’er-match the marvels, showered, here!
This, the very masterpiece from Nature’s hand,
And His! Who framed the Yellowstone and triple
Tetons, grand!
Here, on your plains and ranges, wild and high,
The bison thundered! And the Indian warred!
Through Two-Gwo-Tee, and South Pass, there
surged by,
Famed bands of scouts and rangers! And the trap-
-per-horde!
Lewis and Clark, led by that modest guide
Who sleeps, now in her burial-plot, beside
Chief Washakie! Here, splendid Fremont climbed,
The peak that bears his name! Bridger! Sublette!
Moran! And Owen, who first scaled your heights,
sublimed!
With many other heroes, in your annals, set!
Bold Carson, Ashley, Provost, Bonneville!
The trails they broke, the stockmen follow still!
Oh, your patriot pioneers! Some living, serving, yet,
Their chosen state! These, may we never, once
Forget!
But, wake! Fair warden of the shining shield,
Of equal rights! Equality! You gave an equal care
To high and low! All might the ballot wield!
You granted, first, to each an equal share,
Even to woman! Now, as your fields and mines
Their riches yield, you shed a gleam that shines
Afar! The Primitive! The wilderness, untamed,---
Your hidden treasures, that no dreamers, know,
Call, and will call! To future sons, unnamed,
“Come, work and play!” “Come, hunt and fish!”
and, so,
Beyond your skyline of eternal snows,
Afar, the candle of your welcome, glows!
Then, wake! Oh Sleeping Beauty! So, ‘worth
knowing!”
Wyoming! Yours, the breath of sage and pine!
Above the Rockies! Morning-star is showing!
A new day breaks! Awake! Stand forth!
Oh, dream-drenched State! Transcendent State
O’Mine!
