CANADIAN BALLADS,

AND

OCCASIONAL VERSES.

By Thomas D’Arcy McGee

 

ARM AND RISE.


I.


Arm and Rise! no more repining,
See, the glorious sun is shining—
       What a world that sun beholds!
White ships glancing o’er the ocean,
All Earth’s tides, too, in swift motion,
5
 

       Pouring onward to their goals.

II.
 


’Tis no life for sighing, dreaming,
Read the riddle—full of meaning—
       Written on your own broad palm;
For this needs no gipsey guesses,
10
 

Here the line that curses, blesses—
       Say, I shall be—say I am!

III.
 


You have borne the parting trial,
Dare the rest; let no denial
       Daunt your hope at Fortune’s door;
15
 

See, a new world waits your wooing,
Courage is the soul of sueing—
       All things yield the brave before. [Page 44]

IV.
 


One tear to the recollections
Of our happy young affections,
20
 

       One prayer for the ancestral dead,
Then right on; the sun is shining,
Nor more doubting or repining,
       Firms the path on which we tread.

V.
 
In the forest stands the Castle,
25
 

Silent, gloomy, bell nor wassail
       Echoes through its sable halls;
Night and chaos guard its portals,
They shall bow even to us, mortals,
       Strike! and down their standard falls.
30

VI.
 


On the round Canadian cedars
Legends high await but readers,
       From the oaks charm’d shields depen;
Strike! thou true and only champion,
Lord of the first land you camp on!
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       Strike! and win your crown, my Friend! [Page 45]

VII.
 


Crowns—aye, golden, jewelled, glorious—
Hang, in reach, before and o’er us:
       Sovereign manhood’s lawful prize—
He, who bears a Founder’s spirit
40
 

To the forest shall inherit
       All its rights and royalties. [Page 46]