Northwest Passage

Ah, for just one time
 I will 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 for 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 will 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 Kelso
 Where his sea of flowers began
 Watching cities rise before me
 Then behind me sink again
 This tardiest explorer
 Driven 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 Mckenzie, 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
 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 man
 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
 And make a northwest passage to the sea