Aska Me

Aska me about Alaska, if you care a tinker's damn
What I have to say about the Russian Bear and Uncle Sam
Vitus Bering rediscovered Streights that somehow Bear his name
After they had been discovered many times before he came
Alexander Baranov, Administra(i)tor to the Czar
Sat in Sitka with his books and paintings, eating caviar
Then, in 1867, Seward bought it for a song;
Sing a song of seven million, and a fifth of something Strong
Playing for itself in gold, some twenty times the price he payed
"Seward's Folly" was, by golly, where a killing could be made
1912, a territory, 1952, a state
All the Tlingits were so sorry, Uncle Sam had come so late
When the exploitation's over and the last exploiter's gone
Then whatever left of life and limb can try to carry on