O Child of Nations, giant-limbed,
Who stand'st among the nations now
Unheeded, unadored, unhymned,
With unanointed brow, —
How long the ignoble sloth, how long
The trust in greatness not thine own?
Surely the lion's brood is strong
To front the world alone!
How long the indolence, ere thou dare
Achieve thy destiny, seize thy fame, —
Ere our proud eyes behold thee bear
A nation's franchise, nation's name?
The Saxon force, the Celtic fire,
These are thy manhood's heritage!
Why rest with babes and slaves? Seek higher
The place of race and age.
I see to every wind unfurled
The flag that bears the Maple Wreath;
Thy swift keels furrow round the world
Its blood-red folds beneath;
Thy swift keels cleave the furthest seas;
Thy white sails swell with alien gales;
To stream on each remotest breeze
The black smoke of thy pipes exhales.
O Falterer, let thy past convince
Thy future, — all the growth, the gain,
The fame since Cartier knew thee, since
Thy shores beheld Champlain!
(Montcalm and Wolfe! Wolfe and Montcalm!
Quebec, thy storied citadel
Attest in burning song and psalm
How here thy heroes fell!
O Thou that bor'st the battle's brunt
At Queenston and at Lundy's Lane, —
On whose scant ranks but iron front
The battle broke in vain! —
Whose was the danger, whose the day,
From whose triumphant throats the cheers,
At Chrysler's Farm, at Chateauguay,
Storming like clarion-bursts our ears?
On soft Pacific slopes, — beside
Strange floods that northward rave and fall, —
Where chafes Acadia's chainless tide —
Thy sons await thy call.
They wait; but some in exile, some
With strangers housed, in stranger lands, —
And some Canadian lips are dumb
Beneath Egyptian sands.
O mystic Nile! Thy secret yields
Before us; thy most ancient dreams
Are mixed with far Canadian fields
And murmur of Canadian streams.
But thou, my country, dream not thou!
Wake, and behold how night is done, —
How on thy breast, and o'er thy brow,
Bursts the uprising sun!
Notes
Composition Date:
1885?
The lyrical form of this poem is abab.
27. Cartier: Jacques Cartier (1491-1557), French navigator who
first explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence
River in 1534-36 and 1541-42 and who is often credited for
discovering Canada.
28. Champlain: Samuel de Champlain (ca. 1570-1635), who
explored up the St. Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers and about the lower
Great Lakes as well as along the coasts of Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, and New England. He drew up maps of all these
regions and in 1633 was made Governor of Canada, a colony centred
in Quebec City, which he founded.
29. Montcalm and Wolfe: Louis-Joseph de Montcalm (1712-1759), Marquis de
Montcalm, commander of the French forces defeated by the English,
commanded by General James Wolfe (1728-59), on the Plains of Abraham
above the St. Lawrence River before Quebec City. Both men died
in a battle that was to shift sovereignty in Canada from the French to the
British.
34. Queenston: the Battle of Queenston Heights, on October
13, 1812, in which US forces crossed the Niagara River and
were victorious over Upper Canada forces, led by Isaac Brock (who
died in the battle) until reinforcements arrived from Fort George, commanded
by Major-General Roger Hale Sheaffe, who attacked the Americans
from the rear, down from Queenston Heights, and defeated
them with very few losses.
Lundy's Lane: the most hard-fought battle in the
War of 1812, took place between American and Upper Canada forces
on July 25, 1814, near Niagara Falls\; won by the
Canadians, barely, and at great cost to both sides.
39. Chrysler's Farm: the Battle of Crysler's Farm,
fought November 11, 1813, near Morrisburg,
Ontario, was decisively won by British troops
over much larger American forces.
Chateauguay: the Battle of Châ\;teauguay
was fought on October 26, 1813, along the
Châ\;teauguay River some 50 kilometers
south of Montreal. Canadian forces made the
Americans retreat.
43. Acadia: the first lasting French colony in
North America and still a dominant cultural and
political region within Canada's maritime provinces.
48. Some Canadians served in the army of Charles George
Gordon (1833-1885) when Khartoum was overrun
by the forces of El Mahdi in 1885.
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Comments
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Whooooo Canada! A country rich with interesting history, intriguing persons, and the victors of the War of 1812.
This was like a wonderful trip through high school history class.
There is an intriguing feeling to this poem....sort of like it is meant more as a song.
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