Guards Came Through and other Poems

<h2><SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_62" title="62"> </SPAN>THE ATHABASCA TRAIL</h2> <div class="poetry"> <div class="stanza"> <div class="line"><span class="small-caps">My</span> life is gliding downwards; it speeds swifter to the day</div> <div class="line">When it shoots the last dark cañon to the Plains of Far-away,</div> <div class="line">But while its stream is running through the years that are to be,</div> <div class="line">The mighty voice of Canada will ever call to me.</div> <div class="line">I shall hear the roar of rivers where the rapids foam and tear,</div> <div class="line">I shall smell the virgin upland with its balsam-laden air,</div> <div class="line">And shall dream that I am riding down the winding woody vale</div> <div class="line">With the packer and the packhorse on the Athabasca Trail.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_63" title="63"> </SPAN> <div class="line">I have passed the warden cities at the Eastern water-gate</div> <div class="line">Where the hero and the martyr laid the corner stone of State,</div> <div class="line">The habitant, <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">coureur-des-bois</i>, and hardy voyageur&mdash;</div> <div class="line">Where lives a breed more strong at need to venture or endure?</div> <div class="line">I have seen the gorge of Erie where the roaring waters run,</div> <div class="line">I have crossed the Inland Ocean, lying golden in the sun,</div> <div class="line">But the last and best and sweetest is the ride by hill and dale</div> <div class="line">With the packer and the packhorse on the Athabasca Trail.</div> </div> <div class="stanza"> <SPAN class="pagenum" name="Page_64" title="64"> </SPAN> <div class="line">I'll dream again of fields of grain that stretch from sky to sky</div> <div class="line">And the little prairie hamlets where the cars go roaring by,</div> <div class="line">Wooden hamlets as I saw them&mdash;noble cities still to be,</div> <div class="line">To girdle stately Canada with gems from sea to sea.</div> <div class="line">Mother of a mighty manhood, land of glamour and of hope,</div> <div class="line">From the eastward sea-swept islands to the sunny western slope,</div> <div class="line">Ever more my heart is with you, ever more till life shall fail</div> <div class="line">I'll be out with pack and packer on the Athabasca Trail.</div> </div></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />