Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume V. Nature. 1904. | | | | VII. The Sea | | The Polar Quest | | Richard Burton (1861–1940) |
| | | UNCONQUERABLY, men venture on the quest | |
| And seek an ocean amplitude unsailed, | |
| Cold, virgin, awful. Scorning ease and rest, | |
| And heedless of the heroes who have failed, | |
| They face the ice floes with a dauntless zest. | 5 |
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| The polar quest! Life’s offer to the strong! | |
| To pass beyond the pale, to do and dare, | |
| Leaving a name that stirs us like a song. | |
| And making captive some strange Otherwhere, | |
| Though grim the conquest, and the labor long. | 10 |
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| Forever courage kindles, faith moves forth | |
| To find the mystic floodway of the North. | | | | |
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