Northwest Passage



Westward from the Davis Strait
T'was there t'was said to lie
The sea route to the Orient
For which so many died
Seeking gold and glory
Leaving weathered broken bones
And a long forgotten lonely cairn of stones

Chorus

Ah for just one time
I would take a Northwest Passage
To find the hand of Franklin
Reaching for the Beaufort Sea
Tracing one warm line
Through a land so wide and savage
And make a Northwest Passage to the sea

Three centuries thereafter
I take passage overland
In the footsteps of brave Kelso
Where his sea of flowers began
Watching cities rise before me
And behind me sink again
This tardiest explorer
Driving hard across the plain

And through the night
Behind the wheel
The mileage clicking west
I think upon Mackenzie, David Thompson and the rest
Who cracked the mountain ramparts and so showed a path for me
To race the roaring Fraser to the sea