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 wide and savage, and
Make a Northwest Passage, to the sea
Westward from the Davis Strait
'Tis there 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
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 wide and savage, and
Make a Northwest Passage, to the sea
Three centuries there - after
I take passage over land
In the footsteps of brave Kelso
Where his "sea of flowers" be-gan
Watching cities rise before me
Then be - hind me sink a -gain
This tardiest ex - plorer
Driving hard, a - cross the plains
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 wide and savage, and
Make a Northwest Passage, to the sea
And through the night be - hind the wheel
The / mileage clicking west
I think upon Mac - kenzie
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 wide 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 a - way
To seek a Northwest Passage
At the call of many men
To find there, but the road back home a - gain
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 wide and savage, and
Make a Northwest Passage, to the sea