We anted into the pot of lifeas we settled at Mono Lake,
not knowing if Lady Luck would frown
or smile upon us.

We gambled on our crops,
uninsured against the weather
and lucky to break even.

Wagering on the mines,
some held aces and eights.

The joker ran wild in the game of love.

In the end, there were no winners.
Yet, who can say that we are losers?
We persist.

O great spirit, whose breath gives life to all the world, hear me! I am small and weak. I need your strength.

How soon will Mono's fountains
smash the web winter has spun,
And Mighty Mono's mountains flash
their welcome to the sun?
I count each day the tortured hours
and try to hide the sting
'Til nature's breath awakes the flowers
When Mono smiles in Spring.

When cold, depressing winter haunts
my thoughts with stories weird,
And want's grim, silent shadow
haunts me 'til my soul grows tired.
When storm withers flowers and
tree and streams no longer sing,
I try to fancy how 'twill be
When Mono smiles in Spring.

The mountains fill with icy shot
the bitter, piercing wind,
Yet in their wildest wrath they're
not than man himself less kind;
Though they be merciless as death,
when Winter rules as king.
They soothe you with a perfumed breath
When Mono smiles in Spring.

I seek not for a useless tear that
any man may shed;
I seek not for a careless prayer,
when I have joined the dead.
I seek not for the why and where
of mad imagining,
But I would like to wake each year
When Mono smiles in Spring