Poems by John Campbell

From our Dominion never

Ah! must we part, my darling?

"Are hearts here strong enough to found

We stood, as the helmeted horsemen

Lo, a castle, tall, lake-mirrored,

"Did earth ever see

Spake one upon the vessel's prow, before

Oh, dear to old Dunolly's heart

Oft the savage Tale in telling

(From The Gaelic)

Does death cleanse the stains of the spirit

(Translated From The Gaelic. Taken down in Gaelic by Dewar.)

Is it Man alone who merits

Part I.

Yon vale among the mountains,

Cherry bloom and green buds bursting

A ceaseless, awful, falling sea, whose sound

With their deep voice, monotonous and slow,

Among white peaks a rock, hewn altar-wise,

[This Province was called after the Princess, one of whose Christian names is Alberta.]

Best beloved of ancient stories

A moment's pause before we play our parts,

O fortress city, bathed by streams

1.

Wet, cheerless was our bivouac last eve, but still we spoke

Grey-cowled monk, whose faith so earnest

[Note: The Gaelic spelt as by Dewar.]

Here Rose and Magnolia

Not home to land and kindred wast thou brought,

Morning, lighting all the prairies,

An ancient cannon, finely cast.

I.

[Taken from "Leabhar na Feinne," and a prose version written down from oral recitation by J. Dewar.]

For strife against the ocean tribe

Now of the hard strait of the Feinne this legend's verse shall tell:

Look not for me at eventide,

"They sow in tears who reap in joy,"

Bright are the countless isles which crest

A brother's eye had seen the grief

(Keewatin.)

Colin, Chief of Diarmid's kin,

The Noon-Sun prayed a prairie rose

[Manitoba, Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, Athabasca, Alberta, and British Columbia.]

There's a warrior hunting o'er prairie and hill,

In the vapour and haze on the ocean,

For a while the salt brine leaves me

Milicete Legend Of The OuangondÉ, Or River St. John.

Away to the west! Westward ho! Westward ho!