The Wilderness Trail by Amos
(Tune:  With God On Our Side - click here to play)

Come ye people of conscience,
Of awareness and Mind.
And please heed a warning,
Nor take it unkind
For your mind it will tumble,
And your spirit may fail,
If you walk unprepared on
The Wilderness Trail

Past the ranges of language
And the songs of the heart,
Where beliefs all are ending,
And something else starts
You may feel like a prisoner,
Released from his jail
When you first turn your mind to
The Wilderness Trail

Leave your fine mathematics,
Leave your poetry, too;
Walk away from the notions
You've presented as You;
Banish all preconceptions,
And your mind starts to pale;
When it sees your are bound for
The Wilderness Trail.

Turn away from the icons,
You have held for too long;
Cast off every image
Used to make others Wrong;
Bid farewell to fond formulas
You have run out of bail;
And your time is beginning
On the Wilderness Trail.

I was born in the suburbs,
Where the grasses are tame;
Raised into a fortune,
Brought up under a name.
I was promised fine schooling,
At Harvard and Yale
But I turned my face elsewhere--
To the Wilderness Trail.

Now the men that you find there
Are not of your kind;
For the space-winds have burned them,
And their faces are lined
But they see through your pity
And your heart's tongue may wail
You may curse your beginning
Down the Wilderness Trail

I have crossed every pitfall,
Scaled the windfalls of time;
Crossed the Ethical Mountains,
And left them behind;
I have vanquished the Maiden
And her cold bed of nails;
But there's country beyond her,
On the Wilderness Trail.

The trailhead is near you,
Not more than a day;
But as you love your comfort.
Turn away, turn away!
Let your heart keep its Answers;
Let your eyes keep their scales.
For there's nothing but Change
On the Wilderness Trail.