LOVE’S SIGNET RING.

I stood and watched the wide CHAUDIERE,*
     Its waters to the cauldron leaping,
When in my mind awoke the fair
     Whose spirit in my heart was sleeping.
“Behold!” I said, “how swift and strong

     The current strikes the foaming basin!
So in my heart, for thee, love’s song
     Hymns its eternal diapason.

“And as yon clouds of vapor roll
     Above the seething foam to heaven,

So floats love’s incense up my soul,
     To God, for thee, at morn and even.
The iris, blushing far below
     The bosom of the bounding river,
Is Love’s bright Signet Ring, a bow

     Of promise in life’s sky forever!”

Sweet memories of that wild Chaudiere
     Within my mind are gaily leaping; [Page 195]
And in my thrice-bless’d heart, that fair,
     Belovéd spirit, still is sleeping;

And when dark clouds their shadows fling
     Across life’s swiftly bounding river,
I look upon Love’s Signet Ring—
     The Bow is there—I bless the Giver! [Page 196]

* The magnificent Falls of the Chaudiere, Bytown—now Ottawa. [back]