Read Ebook: Fleurs De Lys and Other Poems by Weir Arthur

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Ebook has 387 lines and 19813 words, and 8 pages

Tossed about by the gigantic Billows of the wild Atlantic, Still they argued, until, frantic With religious zeal, Tonsured priests and Huguenots From discussions came to blows, Sieur de Monts had no repose From their fierce appeal.

Oft the minister came crying, How, while he had been replying To the cur? and denying Something he had said, That the latter fell on him And, with more than priestly vim, Beat him, body, head and limb-- Beat him till he fled.

Days passed by, and then one morning, While the sunbeams were adorning Sea and sky, the lookout's warning Echoed from the mast; And, before the close of day, Safe the little vessel lay, Anchored in a sheltered bay: Land was reached at last.

But, within their cabins lying, Priest and Minister were dying, To their future haven nighing, Ere the dawn they died, And within the forest shade Soon a narrow grave was made, Where the two were gently laid, Sleeping side by side.

That same evening, as they rested Round the fire, the sailors jested Of the dead, how they contested All across the sea, And a sailor, laughing said: "Let us hope the reverend dead Yonder in their narrow bed Manage to agree."

PILOT.

Merry Carlo, who runn'st at my heels Through the dense-crowded streets of the city, In and out among hurrying wheels, And whose run in the suburbs reveals Only scenes that are peaceful and pretty.

Raise to mine your intelligent face, Open wide your great brown eyes in wonder While I tell how lived one of your race Years ago in this now busy place-- Ay, and ran at the heels of its founder.

Mistress Pilot, for that was her name, And you could not have called her a better, Was a gallant and dutiful dame-- Since her breed is forgotten by Fame, For your sake I will call her a setter.

When the hearts of frail women were steeled Not to weep for the dead and the dying; When by night the fierce battle-cry pealed And by day all who worked in the field Kept their weapons in readiness lying;

When full oft at the nunnery gate, As the darkness fell over the village, Would a swart savage crouch and await, With the patience of devilish hate, A chance to kill women, and pillage.

Every one had his duty to do, And our Pilot had hers like another, Which she did like a heroine true, At the head of a juvenile crew Of the same stalwart stuff as their mother.

Oftentimes in the heat of the day, Oftentimes through the mists of the morning, Oftentimes to the sun's dying ray There was heard her re?choing bay Pealing forth its brave challenge and warning.

And so nobly she labored and well, It was fancied--so runneth the story-- She had come down from heaven to dwell Upon earth, and make war upon hell, For the welfare of man and God's glory.

"When her day's work was over, what then?" Well, my boy, she had one of your habits; She would roam through the forest again, But instead of bold hunting for men, Would amuse herself hunting jack rabbits.

Like a fragment of torn sea-kale, Or a wraith of mist in the gale, There comes a mysterious tale Out of the stormy past: How a fleet, with a living freight, Once sailed through the rocky gate Of this river so desolate, This chasm so black and vast.

'Twas Cartier, the sailor bold, Whose credulous lips had told How glittering gems and gold Were found in that lonely land How out of the priceless hoard Within their rough bosoms stored, These towering mountains poured Their treasures upon the strand.

Allured by the greed of gain, Sieur Roberval turned again, And sailing across the main, Passed up the St. Lawrence tide. He sailed by the frowning shape Of Jacques Cartier's Devil's Cape, Till the Saguenay stood agape, With hills upon either side.

Around him the sunbeams fell On the gentle St. Lawrence swell, As though by some mystic spell The water was turned to gold; But as he pursued, they fled, Till his vessels at last were led Where, cold and sullen and dead, The Saguenay River rolled.

Chill blew the wind in his face, As, still on his treasure chase, He entered that gloomy place Whose mountains in stony pride, Still, soulless, merciless, sheer, Their adamant sides uprear, Naked and brown and drear, High over the murky tide.

No longer the sun shone bright On the sails that, full and white, Like sea gulls winging their flight, Dipped into the silent wave; But shadows fell thick around, Till feeling and sight and sound In their awful gloom were drowned, And sank in a depthless grave.

Far over the topmost height Great eagles had wheeled in flight, But, wrapped in the gloom of night, They ceased to circle and soar: Grim silence reigned over all, Save that from a rocky wall A murmuring waterfall Leapt down to the river shore.

MA CH?RE,

Since the morning we parted On the slippery docks of Rochelle, I have wandered, well nigh broken-hearted, Through many a tree-shadowed dell: I've hunted the otter and beaver, Have tracked the brown bear and the deer, And have lain almost dying with fever, While not a companion was near.

I've toiled in the fierce heat of summer Under skies like a great dome of gold, And have tramped, growing number and number, In winter through snowstorm and cold. Yet the love in my heart was far hotter, The fear of my soul far more chill, As my thoughts crossed the wild waste of water To your little home on the hill.

But now Father Time in a measure Has reconciled me to my fate, For I know he will bring my dear treasure Back into my arms soon or late. And, besides, every evening, when, weary, I lie on my soft couch of pine, Sleep wafts me again to my dearie, And your heart once more beats against mine.

You never have heard of such doings As those that are going on here; We've nothing but weddings and wooings From dawn till the stars reappear. For the king, gracious monarch, a vessel Has sent, bearing widows and maids Within our rough bosoms to nestle, And make us a home in the glades.

They are tall and short, ugly and pretty, There are blondes and brunettes by the score: Some silent and dull, others witty, And made for mankind to adore. Some round as an apple, some slender-- In fact--so he be not in haste-- Any man with a heart at all tender Can pick out a wife to his taste.

Now, darling, don't pout and grow jealous, I still am a bachelor free, In spite of the governor's zealous And extra-judicial decree, Commanding all men to be married In less than two weeks from this date, And promising all who have tarried Shall feel the full strength of his hate:

Now, you know I was ever a rover, Half stifled by cities or towns, Of nature--and you--a warm lover, Wooing both in despite of your frowns, So you well may imagine my sorrow When fettered and threatened like this-- Oh! Marie, dear, pack up to-morrow, And bring me back freedom and bliss.

If you do not, who knows but some morning I'll waken and find a decree Has been passed, that, without any warning, Has wedded some woman to me? Oh! Marie, ch?re Marie, have pity; You only my woes can assuage; I'm confined, till I wed, to the city, And feel like a bird in a cage.

Then come, nor give heed to the billows That tumble between you and Jules. I know a sweet spot where lithe willows Bend over a silvery pool, And there we will dwell, dear, defying Misfortune to tear us apart. My darling, come to me, I'm dying To press you again to my heart.

Last of its race, beside our college There stands an Oak Tree, centuries old, Which, could it voice its stores of knowledge, Might many a wondrous tale unfold. It marked the birth of two fair towns, And mourned the cruel fate of one, Yet still withstands grim Winter's frowns, And glories in the Summer sun.

Jacques Cartier passed, its branches under, Up yonder mount one autumn day, And viewed, with ever-growing wonder, The scene that spread beneath him lay. He was the first from Europe's shore To pass beneath the Oak Tree's shade, The first whose vision wandered o'er Such boundless wealth of stream and glade.

Beneath his feet a little village Lay, like a field-lark in her nest, Amid the treasures of its tillage, The maize in golden colors dressed. Years passed; and when again there came A stranger to that peaceful spot, Gone was the village and its name, Save by a few gray-heads, forgot.

But soon beneath the Oak, another, And sturdier village took its place; One that the gentle Virgin mother Has kept from ruin by her grace. She saved it from the dusky foes Who thirsted for its heroes' blood, And when December waters rose About its walls she stilled the flood.

What noble deeds and cruel, stranger Than aught in fiction ere befell, What weary years of war and danger That village knew, the Oak might tell. Perchance, brave Dollard sat of yore Beneath its very shade, and planned A deed should make for evermore His name a trumpet in the land.

Perchance, beneath its gloomy shadows De Vaudreuil sat that bitter day When round about him, in the meadows Encamped, the British forces lay; And as he wrote the fatal word That gave an Empire to the foe, The Old Oak's noble heart was stirred With an unutterable woe.

Beloved of Time, the Old Oak flourished While at its foot its little charge, An eaglet by a lion nourished, Grew mighty by the river marge; Till, where the deer were wont to roam, There throbs to-day a nation's heart, Of wealth and luxury the home, Of learning, industry and art.

No longer now the church bells' ringing Fills all the little town with life, Its loud-tongued, startling clangor bringing Young men and aged to the strife. No longer through the midnight air The savage hordes their war-cries peal, As rushing from their forest lair They meet the brave defenders' steel.

Long has the reign of war been ended And Commerce crowned, whose stately fleet Brings ever treasures vast and splendid To lay them humbly at her feet. And now her eager sons to-day Have crossed the wild, north-western plain, And made two oceans own her sway Held captive by a slender chain.

"Silent I have stood and borne it, hoping still from year to year That the pleading voice of justice you would some day wake to hear. But beneath the soulless present you have sunk the glorious past, Till I cannot bear it longer--you must learn the truth at last. Shame upon you, shameless city, heart of this great land of yours, That the world should say you care not if your founder's name endures! Shame upon you, that no statue stands within your greatest square To commemorate the hero who so often battled there! Who long years ago sprang lightly from his pinnace to the beach, And amid the virgin forests, spreading far as eye could reach, Knelt and prayed, his people with him, while the prophet-priest foretold How their growth should be as great as was the mustard seed's of old.

"Have you ceased to care, already, how that noble little band Toiled, and fought with man and nature that their sons might rule the land, Braving winter's cold and famine, summer's hot and stifling breath, Danger in unnumbered forms; and in each form a cruel death, Slain by skulking, coward foemen, now one moment in the corn Singing some sweet Norman ditty, and the next one overborne? Comrades, you have mothers, sisters, wives whom you would die to save, Think, then, of the noble ones who claim your tribute to the brave; Tender women, timid children, crouching at the barricade, Pallid, trembling, stained with blood, yet nerved to give the needed aid, Staunching deadly wounds, and wiping death-dews from a loved one's brow, While their fathers, husbands, brothers fought and won they scarce knew how!

"Think of him among them toiling! hear his simple, trusting prayers! See him, stern, unyielding, hopeful, with a thousand daily cares, Sharing his companions' hardships, cheering there and chiding here, With a head to rule them wisely, and a heart that knew not fear, Sleeping with his armor on him and his weapons by his bed, Ready ever for the foes that, like the shadows, came and fled. See him fighting in the forest with a host that seeks his blood! Hear him praying to the Virgin to restrain the rising flood, Vowing that if she would heed him and preserve the little town, He himself would bear a cross and plant it on Mount Royal's crown! True crusader, in whose heart there never dwelt one sordid thought, Guardian of the Virgin's city: this is he you honor not.

"Of our Queen a stately statue stands upon Victoria Square, In its hand a wreath of laurel, in that wreath a tiny pair Nesting year by year uninjured, heedless of the passing throng, Living symbols of a reign that guards the weak from every wrong. Loyalty upraised that statue, and were it the only one That your city had erected still the deed were nobly done. But to honor me, my brothers, one whose blood was never shed On your soil or for your country, heaps but shame upon my head, Not because you might not praise me--I may merit your esteem-- But because you place me first where he alone should stand supreme. Shame upon you, to forget him and remember such as I! Shame upon you, if your ears are heedless still to honor's cry!

"True, I tamed a haughty foeman at Trafalgar and the Nile, But I had a nation's wealth and numbers at my back the while. His was one long fight with scarcely seven score to do his will, With a host of open foes and secret foes, more deadly still; Foes in every bush and hollow, foes behind his monarch's throne, Stabbing with one hand extended seemingly to clasp his own. Yet he triumphed, and behold you! now a country growing fast, With a glorious future breaking through the darkness of the past, With a host of stout hearts toiling day and night to make you great, And a glittering roll of heroes worthy of a mighty state. Yet you cannot he a nation if your children never hear Aught of those whose blood has won the land that they should hold most dear.

"Can you wonder that the rains have beaten on my statued form? Can you marvel that the winter shakes me with its fiercest storm? Ah! not age it is but shame that makes me look so worn and old, Makes me hang my head and tremble lest the bitter truth be told. It is murmured by the maples, it is whispered by the wind, Till I cannot but imagine it is heard by all mankind, How your children, from gay boyhood until tottering age, behold Gallant Maisonneuve forgotten and less worthy me extolled. Oh! my comrades, if you love me, lighten the disgrace I feel, Lend your ready hands to aid me, bend your hearts to my appeal: Raise a statue to the founder of this great, historic town, Chomedey de Maisonneuve, or pity me and take mine down."

RED ROSES.

And thou heardst them, half unconscious of the import that they bore, Till the years unlocked the chambers of thy stainless, maiden heart And thou badest my songs be silent. They are silent evermore, But their echoes from my soul will not depart.

THE MAIDEN.

The melody of birds is in her voice. The lake is not more crystal than her eyes, In whose brown depths her soul still sleeping lies. With her soft curls the passionate zephyr toys, And whispers in her ear of coming joys. Upon her breast red rosebuds fall and rise, Kissing her snowy throat, and, lover-wise, Breathing forth sweetness till the fragrance cloys.

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