<h3 id="The_Gatekeeper">The Gatekeeper</h3>
<p>THE sunlight falls on old Quebec,<br/>
A city framed of rose and gold,<br/>
An ancient gem more beautiful<br/>
In that its beauty waxes old.<br/>
O Pearl of Cities! I would set<br/>
You higher in our diadem,<br/>
And higher yet and higher yet,<br/>
That generations still to be<br/>
May kindle at your history!</p>
<p>’Twas here that gallant Champlain stood<br/>
And gazed upon this mighty stream,<br/>
These towering rock-walls, buttressed high—<br/>
A gateway to a land of dream;<br/>
And all his silent men stood near<br/>
While the great fleur-de-lis fell free,<br/>
(Too awe-struck they to raise a cheer)<br/>
And while the shining folds outspread<br/>
The sunset burned a sudden red.</p>
<p>Here paced the haughty Frontenac,<br/>
His great heart torn with pride and pain,<br/>
His clear eye dimming as it swept<br/>
The land he might not see again,<br/>
This infant world, this strange New France<br/>
Dropped down as by some vagrant wind<br/>
Upon the New World’s vast expanse,<br/>
Threatened yet safe! Through storm and stress<br/>
Time’s challenge to the wilderness.</p>
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<p>Here, when to ease her tangled skein<br/>
Fate cut her threads and formed anew<br/>
The pattern of the thing she planned<br/>
And red war slipped the shuttle through,<br/>
Montcalm met Wolfe! The bitter strife<br/>
Of flag and flag was ended here—<br/>
And every man who gave his life<br/>
Gave it that now one flag may wave,<br/>
One nation rise upon his grave!</p>
<p>The twilight falls on old Quebec<br/>
And in the purple shines a star,<br/>
And on her citadel lies peace<br/>
More powerful than armies are.<br/>
O fair dream city! Ebb and flow<br/>
Of race feuds vex no more your walls.<br/>
Can they of old see this? and know<br/>
That, even as they dreamed, you stand<br/>
Gatekeeper of a peace-filled land!</p>
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