Reminiscences of a Canadian Pioneer for the last Fifty Years: An AutobiographyThompson, Samuel
History
Reminiscences of a Canadian Pioneer for the last Fifty Years: An Autobiography
Thompson, Samuel
Frontier and pioneer life -- Ontario; Thompson, Samuel, 1810-1886; Toronto (Ont.) -- Biography; Toronto (Ont.) -- History
Thy willfull brother--woe the daye!
Why did hee cross mee on my waye?
I slewe him that I would not slaye,
Emmeline,
I cannot washe his bloode awaye,
Emmeline.
Oh, why, when stricken from his hande,
Far flew his weapon o'er the strande--
Why did hee rush upon my brande?
Emmeline,
Colde lyes his corse upon the sande,
Emmeline.
Thou'rt too, too younge--too younge and fayre
To learne the wearie rede of care--
My bitter griefe thou must not share,
Emmeline,
I could not bidde thee wedde despaire,
Emmeline.
Through noisome fenne and tangled brake,
Where crawle the lizard and the snake,
My mournfull hopelesse way I take,
Emmeline,
To live a hermitt for thy sake,
Emmeline.
Thy buoyaunt spirit may forgett
The happie houre when last we mett--
My sunne of hope is darklie sett,
Emmeline,
I'll bee thy guardian-angell yett,
Emmeline.
CHANGES OF AN HOUR
ON LAKE ERIE.
Smiles the sunbeam on the waters--
On the waters glad and free;
Sparkling, flashing, laughing, dancing--
Emblem fair of childhood's glee.
Ruddy on the waves reflected,
Deeper glows the sinking ray;
Like the smile of young affection
Flushed by fancy's changeful play.
Mist-enwreathing, chill and gloomy,
Steals grey twilight o'er the lake--
Ah! to days of autumn sadness
Soon our dreaming souls awake.
Night has fallen, dark and silent,
Starry myriads gem the sky;
Thus, when earthly hopes have failed us,
Brighter visions beam on high.
A CANADIAN ECLOGUE.
An aged man sat lonesomely within a rustic porch,
His eyes in troubled thoughtfulness were bent upon the ground:
Why pondered he so mournfully, that venerable man?
He dreamt sad dreams of early days, the happy days of youth.
He dreamt fond dreams of early days, the lightsome days of youth;
He saw his distant island home--the cot his fathers built--
The bright green fields their hands had tilled--the once accustomed haunts;
And, dearer still, the old churchyard where now their ashes lie.
Long, weary years had slowly passed--long years of thrift and toil--
The hair, once glossy brown, was white, the hands were rough and hard;
Deep-delving care had plainly marked its furrows on the brow;
The form, once tall and lithe and strong, now bent and stiff and weak.
His many kind and duteous sons, his daughters, meek and good,
Like scattered leaves from autumn gales, were reft the parent tree;
Tho' lands, and flocks, and rustic wealth, an ample store he owned,
They seemed but transitory gains--a coil of earthly care.
Old neighbours, from that childhood's home, have paused before his door;
Oh, gladly hath he welcomed them, and warmly doth he greet;
They bring him--token of old love--a little cage of birds,
The songsters of his native vale, companions of his youth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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