It must have been about 65 years ago that Brother X and I put on a play for our Cub Scout troop. Off-stage, our Dad read the Robert W. Service poem The Cremation of Sam McGee, while we acted it out on stage. It was a story about a man who died hunting for gold during the Klondike Gold Rush.
Well, Brother X is still acting it out, as he chose to spend a portion of his Golden Years visiting Iceland this month to finally see the famed Northern Lights.
The poem is one of my favorites, and many of its lines are still quoted by family members today. My Mom’s favorite line was, “A promise made is a debt unpaid.” I promise that if you click on the link below, you will see why the poem is an American classic.
Peace and Love, and all of the above.
Earl
earlthepearl137 
his bucket list I would like to see it too
Barbara, I never saw the Northern Lights, but I’ve been to an island near the Arctic Circle (Adak). Close enough for me, so it’s not on my bucket list.
Great classic poetry- never a stretch to make a rhyme work- and tells a compelling story which I would have loved to see you boys act out…
One summer my husband and I took a 52 day group canoe trip in northern Ontario ending up at the bottom of Hudson Bay. Several other brave souls stayed up with us one night to see the Northern Lights though we knew we would be exhausted the next day paddling from the crack of dawn to dusk to make it to the Cree Indian summer camp before the ice set in. The spectacular spread of shapes and curtains of electric colors painting the sky is hard to describe. Awe is the only word and well worth our ensuing fatigue.
A 52 Day canoe trip sounds grueling. I’m impressed. I hope it was downstream. I never got to see the Northern Lights during the one year I was stationed in Adak, Alaska. I guess we were too far south. I’m glad you got to enjoy them.