from THE SPELL OF THE YUKON by Robert Service

I’ve stood in some mighty-mouthed hollow
That’s plumb-full of hush to the brim;
I’ve watched the big, husky sun wallow
In crimson and gold, and grow dim,
Till the moon set the pearly peaks gleaming,
And the stars tumbled out, neck and crop;
And I’ve got that old feeling a-dreaming—
It’s middle of night on the top."

The summer—no sweeter was eve
r; The sun-shiny woods all athrill;
The grayling asleep in the river,
The bighorn asleep on the hill.
The strong life that never knows harness;
The winds of the north visiting card;
The bitterness, peace and the wildness—
The vortex that hunts me so hard.

From SOLOMON KANE’S HOMECOMING by Robert E. Howard

“My feet are weary of wandering and age comes on apace;
“I fain would dwell in Devon now, forever in my place.”
The howling of the ocean pack came whistling down the gale,
And Solomon Kane threw up his head like a hound that sniffs the trail.

A-down the wind like a running pack the hounds of the ocean bayed,
And Solomon Kane rose up again and girt his Spanish blade.
In his strange cold eyes a vagrant gleam grew wayward and blind and bright,
And Solomon put the people by and went into the night.

A wild moon rode the wild white clouds, the waves in white crests flowed,
When Solomon Kane went forth again and no man knew his road.
They glimpsed him etched against the moon, where clouds on hilltop thinned;
They heard an eery echoed call that whistled down the wind.

SONG OF THE OPEN ROAD by Walt Whitman

“Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.
Henceforth I ask not good-fortune—I myself am good fortune;
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing…
Strong and content I travel the open road.”

JOHN STEINBECK'S ETHOS

“We have failed sometimes, taken wrong paths, paused for renewal, filled our bellies and licked our wounds, but we have never slipped back – never.” – John Steinbeck, America and Americans

“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about.” ― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

THE NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES by Francis William Bourdillon

The night has a thousand eyes,
And the day but one;
Yet the light of the bright world dies
With the dying sun.

The mind has a thousand eyes,
And the heart but one:
Yet the light of a whole life dies
When love is done.