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Pine,
Rose and Fleur de Lis
by
Susie Frances Harrison
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OTTAWA
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I.
Three are the cliffs, and three the winding rivers,
High on the cliffs’ crest risèth the
crownèd town;
Three
are the cliffs, and one the Fall with its thunder
Shaking
the bridge while the river rolleth under,
Flicking the wild white foam from its lips so brown.
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II.
A city set on a hill may not be hidden,
Her sunlit towers from afar transcend the green;
Three
are her hills, as an Old World town’s were
seven,
And from
all three her spires ascend to heaven,
Like nests in the cliff her homes in the rock are
seen.
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III.
Fair is the view when the morning mists are melting,
Bridge and river and tree awake in the dark;
Fairer
yet when the rosy clouds of vesper
Fire all
the Gothic glass, and fair when Hesper
Shoots at the blue his tiny silvery mark.
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IV.
But fairest of all when the winter sun is glowing,
And the bluest sky in the world is overhead,
Or when
at night all the jewell’d lights are shining,
And the
twisted ribbons of fire are gaily twining
Around her pines to the sound of her children’s
tread.
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V.
*Outaouai! Whatever
else betide her,
Beauty is hers for a birthright sure and sweet,
And old
Romance, could he see her rocks and ridges,
Could
he stand but once on her spray-swept stormy bridges,
Would grow young again as he cast himself at her
feet.
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*Original Indian. [back]
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