In Divers Tones

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Title: In Divers Tones
Author: Charles G. D. Roberts
Release Date: November 2004 [EBook #6956]?[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]?[This file was first posted on February 17, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: Latin 1
? START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN DIVERS TONES BY ROBERTS ***
This eBook was produced by John Williams, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
IN DIVERS TONES
BY
CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS
AUTHOR OF "ORION, AND OTHER POEMS"; PROFESSOR OF?ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF?KING'S COLLEGE, WINDSOR, N. S.
To My Friend,?EDMUND COLLINS.
In divers tones I sing,?And pray you, Friend, give ear!?My medley of song I bring?You, who can rightly hear.
Themes gathered far and near,?Thoughts from my heart that spring,?In divers tones I sing,?And pray you. Friend, give ear!
Here's many a serious thing--?You'll know if it's sincere.?Where the light laughters ring?You may detect a tear.?In divers tones I sing,?And pray you, Friend, give ear!
CONTENTS.
DEDICATION
COLLECT FOR DOMINION DAY
CANADA
ACTAEON
IN THE AFTERNOON
THE PIPES OF PAN
BEFORE THE BREATH OF STORM
OUT OF POMPEII
TO FREDERICTON IN MAY-TIME
IN SEPTEMBER
CONCERNING CUTHBERT THE MONK
IMPULSE
THE ISLES--AN ODE
A SERENADE
OFF PELORUS
A BALLADE OF CALYPSO
RAIN
MIST
THE TANTRAMAR REVISITED
THE SLAVE WOMAN
THE MARVELLOUS WORK
A SONG OF DEPENDENCE
ON THE CREEK
LOTOS
THE SOWER
THE POTATO HARVEST
AFLOAT
RECKONING
IN NOTRE DAME
NOCTURNE
TIDES
CONSOLATION
DARK
THE FOOTPATH
TOUT OU RIEN
SALT
KHARTOUM
LIBERTY. (From the French of Fr��chette)
TO THE MEMORY OF SIDNEY LANIER
ON READING THE POEMS OF SIDNEY LANIER
IN LANG'S "HELEN OF TROY." (TO BLISS CARMAN.)
A BALLADE OF PHILOMELA
A HERALD
WINTER GERANIUMS
A BREATHING TIME
BIRCH AND PADDLE. (To BLISS CARMAN.)
AN ODE FOR THE CANADIAN CONFEDERACY
THE QUELLING OF THE MOOSE
A SONG OF REGRET
THE DEPARTING OF CLOTE SCARP
A BREAK
TO A LADY, AFTER HEARING HER READ KEATS' "NIGHTINGALE"
RONDEAU. (TO LOUIS HONORE FR��CHETTE.)
A BIRTHDAY BALLADE
To S---- M----
LA BELLE TROMBONISTE
THE POET IS BIDDEN TO MANHATTAN ISLAND
THE BLUE VIOLET
IN DIVERS TONES.
COLLECT FOR DOMINION DAY.
Father of nations! Help of the feeble hand!?Strength of the strong! to whom the nations kneel!?Stay and destroyer, at whose just command?Earth's kingdoms tremble and her empires reel!?Who dost the low uplift, the small make great,?And dost abase the ignorantly proud,?Of our scant people mould a mighty state,?To the strong, stern,--to Thee in meekness bowed!?Father of unity, make this people one!?Weld, interfuse them in the patriot's flame,--?Whose forging on thine anvil was begun?In blood late shed to purge the common shame;?That so our hearts, the fever of faction done,?Banish old feud in our young nation's name.
CANADA.
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!
ACTAEON.
A WOMAN OF PLATAEA SPEAKS.
I have lived long, and watched