Northwest Passage

Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
 To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea
 Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
 And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
 Westward from the Davis Strait 'tis there 'twas 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
 Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
 To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea
 Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
 And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
 Three centuries thereafter, I take passage overland
 In the footsteps of brave Kelsey, where his Sea of Flowers began
 Watching cities rise before me, then behind me sink again
 This tardiest explorer, driving hard across the plain
 Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
 To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea
 Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
 And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
 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 did show a path for me
 To race the roaring Fraser to the sea
 Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
 To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea
 Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
 And make a Northwest Passage to the sea
 How then am I so different from the first men through this way?
 Like them, I left a settled life, I threw it all away
 To seek a Northwest Passage at the call of many men
 To find there but the road back home again
 Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage
 To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea
 Tracing one warm line through a land so wild and savage
 And make a Northwest Passage to the sea