The Endurance (Crescent Shield)

Brave men wanted For hazardous journey Low pay, bitter cold Moths of complete darkness Constant danger Safe return doubtful Great recognition in case Of success Ernest Shackleton The south facing madman Will try for a third time To walk at then end of the world! Five thousand responded for A crew of thirty on a Brave sailing ship Along for the journey were sixty-seven Of Canada's finest four legged ice runners To speed... the men And their dreams Across... and alive! From the years I have learned Twice before I returned Under stocked and overwhelmed Lost what I sought More seasoned and well prepared The continent again I dare To reach the pole again I drive Let it be the end This time alive! South! We sail with pride Our keel will slice the ocean's heart with anger once more Feel the wind at our backs, and our faces... Already charred with frozen black! We meet once again My old foe South Atlantic Spawn of jigsaw ice all around The cracks closing in Till there's no more Imprisoned in this icy hell! Here so close To the land of last and barely found For the winter we will batten down Never given... Honor to stab the sole of the world! (Listing) Free the ship with ax and pick (Breaking) Loot the ship with quick and wit (Sinking) Abandon ship... abandon ship! What the ice shall take The ice shall keep! "She is gone... none more to say" Ice gleaming sunshine Five feet to the deepest blue North! We run to save our lives The albatross and emperors Have sung our due dirge Warmth will keep our souls alive We move with haste through Jaws of cracked bergs We haul small boats that carry life We only have necessities as Bare as our skin Vile, the hide of ocean's dead Flesh of the dogs A pleasure filled sweet meal! No dreams in brief sleep In the midnight light So terrified! Hungry ice swallows me Cold sheets argue louder now They find we're so terrified Follow no horizons seen We row to where we do not know Deception Isle, too many miles On cracked numb black fists Cold, a word no longer known Far beyond the freezing snow drifts Eat, we see in only dream A cannibal's insanity I see in thine eyes Drink in the salt and misty rain Still pushing north To the Elephant's domain There on the crashing walls Of black jagged teeth So unbelieved Last land We could ever see! We will try to endure (South Georgia our final try) Will we ever meet again? Where will we meet again? Two years of death yet all survived Endurance had to be the key On painted waters we awake to find A day of wonders so divine The Yelco awaits on the silent sea Is thee, the angel of death that we see This isle of life, now left behind We leave nothing but our own demise My loyal comrades never left my side (Honest bravery) In the black icy sea, the secrets and memories She will always keep (On land, on ice or on the stormy sea) The endurance we have left behind Endurance we will always find