Canadian Born

by Emily Pauline Johnson

Prairie Greyhounds

 
C. P. R. “NO. 1,” WESTBOUND

  
        I swing to the sunset land—
The world of prairie, the world of plain,
The world of promise and hope and gain,
The world of gold, and the world of grain,
        And the world of the willing hand.
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        I carry the brave and bold—
The one who works for the nation’s bread,
The one whose past is a thing that’s dead,
The one who battles and beats ahead,
        And the one who goes for gold.
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        I swing to the “Land to Be,”
I am the power that laid its floors,
I am the guide to its western stores,
I am the key to its golden doors,
        That open alone to me. [Page 19]
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C. P. R. “NO. 2,” EASTBOUND
        I swing to the land of morn;
The grey old east with its grey old seas,
The land of leisure, the land of ease,
The land of flowers and fruits and trees,
        And the place where we were born.
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        Freighted with wealth I come;
For he who many a moon has spent
Far out west on adventure bent,
With well-worn pick and folded tent,
        Is bringing his bullion home.
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        I never will be renowned,
As my twin that swings to the western marts,
For I am she of the humbler parts,
But I am the joy of the waiting hearts;
        For I am the Homeward-bound. [Page 20]
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