Frederick George Scott

COLLECTED POEMS

 

Canada

Out of the clouds on Time’s horizon, dawneth the new Day,         spacious and fair:
    White-winged over the world it shineth; wide-winged over the         land and sea.
Spectres and ghosts of battles and hatred flee at the touch of the         morning air:
    Throned on the ocean, the new Sun ariseth; Darkness is over,         we wake, and are free.

Ages of ages guarded and tended mountain and waterfall, river
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         and plain,
    Forests, that sighed with the sorrows of God in the infinite night          when the stars looked down,—
Guarded and tended with winter and summer, sword of lightning          and food of rain,
    This, our Land, where the twin-born peoples, youngest of                   Nations, await their crown.

Now, in the dawn of a Nation’s glory, now, in the passionate youth          of Time,
    Wide-thrown portals, infinite visions, splendours of knowledge,
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         dreams from afar,
Seas that toss in their limitless fury, thunder of cataracts, heights          sublime,
    Mock us and dare us to do and inherit, to mount up as eagles          and grasp at the star.

Blow on us, Breath of the pitiless passion that pulses and throbs          in the heart of the sea!
    Smite on us, Wind of the night-hidden Arctic! Breathe on us,          Breath of the languorous South!
Here, where ye gather to conflict and triumph, men shall have
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         manhood, Man shall be free;
    Here hath he shattered the yoke of the tyrant; free as the winds          are the words of his mouth. [Page 128]

Voice of the infinite solitude, speak to us! Speak to us, Voice of          the mountain and plain!
    Give us the dreams which the lakes are dreaming—lakes with          bosoms all white in the dawn;
Give us the thoughts of the deep-browed mountains, thoughts that
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         will make us as gods to reign;
    Give us the calm that is pregnant with action—calm of the hills          when the night is withdrawn.

Brothers, who crowd to the golden portals—portals which God          has opened wide—
    Shake off the dust from your feet as ye enter; gird up your loins,          and pass within:
Cringing to no man, go in as brothers; mount up to kingship, side          by side:
    Night is behind us, Day is before us, victories wait us, heights
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         are to win.

God, then, uplift us! God, then, uphold us! Great God, throw wider          the bounds of Man’s thought!
    Gnaws at our heart-strings the hunger for action; burns like a          desert the thirst in our soul:
Give us the gold of a steadfast endeavour; give us the heights          which our fathers have sought:
    Though we start last in the race of the Nations, give us the         
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         power to be first at the goal. [Page 129]