PART I

ALMOST HEROIC

So Skoal! Roald Amundsen:

The winter’s cold, that lately froze our blood,

Now were it so extreme might do this good,

As make these tears bright pearls, which I would lay

Tombed safely with you till doom’s fatal day;

That in thy solitary place, where none

May ever come to breathe a sigh or groan,

Some remnant might be extant of the time

And faithful love I shall ever bear for you.

—Poem written by Lincoln Ellsworth
on the death of Roald Amundsen