The White Canoe Part 1

The White Canoe.

by Alan Sullivan.

TORONTO:

THE J. E. BRYANT CO. (LTD.)

1891.

The White Canoe And other Verse.

The White Canoe.

There's a whisper of life in the grey dead trees, And a murmuring wash on the sh.o.r.e, And a breath of the South in the loitering breeze, To tell that a winter is o'er.

While free, at last, from its fetters of ice The river is clear and blue, And cries with a tremulous quivering voice For the launch of the White Canoe.

Oh, gently the ripples will kiss her side, And tenderly bear her on; For she is the wandering phantom bride Of the river she rests upon; She is loved with a love that cannot forget, A pa.s.sion so strong and true, That never a billow has risen yet To peril the White Canoe.

So come when the moon is enthroned in the sky, And the echoes are sweet and low, And Nature is full of the mystery That none but her children know; Come, taste of the rest that the weary crave, But is only revealed to a few: When there's trouble on sh.o.r.e, there's peace on the wave, Afloat in the White Canoe.

A Vision.

To-night, sweetheart, when all about me lay In shadow deep the wood, I felt my soul within me reel and sway And pulse my sluggish blood, As when along a quiet land-locked bay Swells some resistless flood.

My spirit leapt from out its earthly prison, Higher and ever higher, Until it reached those barriers Elysian Where the eternal fire Creates one great impa.s.sable division Twixt us and our desire.

Up, till it left the regions of the night, Of sorrow and of fear, Emerging into that soft mellow light, That radiance pure and clear, Where Love reigns all supreme, and all is bright If only Love be near.

There through sweet meadows, on by br.i.m.m.i.n.g streams, Wandered my soul at will, And saw such forms as haunt our loveliest dreams And, waking, haunt us still; Voices like music, smiles like sunny beams Lost in a rippling rill.

But ah! my soul saw one supremely fair, One form the most divine, One face enhaloed all with golden hair, In beauty most benign, Surpa.s.sing all the perfect beauty there: Heart of my heart, 'twas thine!

My soul went forth, but all grew strange and dim-- Meadow and stream were gone-- I heard a sound as of a far-off hymn By night winds softly blown; Then all around me seemed to sink and swim, And I am here alone.

A Question.

Pale Moon, whose tranquil orb resplendent sails The ethereal main; thy curved prow For ever braving the celestial gales, Serene and slow:

Myriads of Stars, that ever dot the blue Great vault of heaven: eyes that keep Eternal watch, unshaken, strong, and true, Yet never sleep:

Ye southern Zephyrs, redolent with balm Of myrtle, orange, and the rose; Blowing from islands where the fronded palm In beauty grows:

Wind of the North, whose trumpet voice can shake The shuddering echoes of the cave; Storm-born, blast-driven; thou, whose breath doth make The mighty wave:

Perpetual Fire, whose never-dying flame Consumes the glowing heart of earth, Until a wide destruction shall proclaim A second birth:

Tell me, oh! mighty concourse, have ye seen In all this great infinity Of worlds unborn and planets that have been, A place for me?

Confession, Creed, and Prayer.

Silent around me a cathedral dim, Still throbbing with the echoes of a hymn, Lifted its ghostly arches, great and grim;

Slowly the wors.h.i.+ppers had filed away; Untenanted the vacant cloisters lay; As even followed on the steps of day;

But one remained, who bent his reverent head Where graven figures slumber with the dead, And spake with faltering accents, and he said:

"Light, light, more light; Great Father, give me light; I cannot see my way, so dark the night; My finite heart shrinks from the infinite.

"Anon the shadow lifts: my straining eyes One moment see that which before me lies; This fades, and new-born hope within me dies.

"I looked for suns.h.i.+ne, yet there cometh rain; My sweetest pleasure turneth into pain: I would sink back to nothingness again.

"Beliefs are but perpetual ideas, The gospel worketh only on my fears, In bitterness and sorrow, void of tears;

"In one G.o.d I believe, eternally Omnipotent and present, and that He Rules Heaven and h.e.l.l, the earth, the sky, the sea.

"As carnal life by carnal love is given, So life divine by love divine is proven, Of which the fountain head is G.o.d in Heaven.

"That since each body is the fleshly home Of something better, something not our own, So G.o.d all faults but foulness will condone.

"For I believe impurity is sin Against the Spirit life that dwells within Creating Father and created men;

"That every soul is judged true and well According to the light that on it fell: No light, no judgment; strong light, Heaven or h.e.l.l.

"All this and more; Great Father, I have heard Of Thy dear Son; my heart expectant stirred To welcome Him, confessing I had erred.

"Nay, said humanity within me, nay, I cannot grasp this mystery, so stay Until I comprehend, and I obey:

"I would, yet cannot--herein lies my grief.

Thy Son spake comfort to the dying thief, So speak to me and help mine unbelief."

Here the voice faltered, ceased. G.o.d, can it be The morn has dawned on him and not on me?

Is this the Publican, I Pharisee?