CANADIAN MELODIES {i} AND POEMS BY GEORGE E. MERKLEY.

Toronto: HART & RIDDELL 1893 {ii} [Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and ninety three, by George E. Merkley, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.]

{iii}

DEDICATION. —— TO ONE WHOM CANADIANS EVERYWHERE HOLD IN GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE, HIS EXCELLENCY THE MARQUIS OF LORNE, THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED.

{iv}

{v}

PREFACE.

NO apology is made for bringing this volume before the public. Several of the poems it contains were mere attempts to relieve the monotonous routine of college life; many of them were written under foreign skies, and this will account for that lack of national spirit which the title of the volume might seem to imply. They have all been written hastily, and with frequent interruptions, so that no time was left for refining or amplifying. These remarks are not made to forestall criticism. Those who look with a jealous eye to the honor of English literature, are bound to pass what judgment they please upon every intruder into the groves of Parnassus, regardless of any extenuating circumstances which may be brought forth by way of palliation.

The dearth of national literature in Canada is to be deplored; and whatever may have a tendency to stimulate activity in this line ought{vi} not to be discouraged. The history of Canada has a poetic background. Our people are by nature inclined to literature, as may be seen from the high character of our home journals and from the large importation of foreign books and magazines. Yet our national literature is meagre, compared with that of other countries whose advantages have not been superior to our own. Are not the pearly whiteness of our skies, the placid loveliness of our lakes, the lonely majesty of our forests, as well as the heroic struggles of our ancestors for the flag which they so dearly loved, fit themes for poetic inspiration and for minstrel reverie? It is true that we look to the Mother Country for our models; but did not the Greek colonies produce a literature worthy to be compared to that of Athens in her glory?

It is hoped that these remarks may not appear presumptuous; and as the prisoner whose case is hopeless appeals to the mercy of the court in order to ameliorate his condition, so the writer of these verses lays aside his pen, promising to impose no further upon public sentiment.

North Williamsburg, Ont.

{vii}

Contents.

{ix}

CORRECTIONS.

{1}

{2}

Prelude.

I.

II.

{3}

MELODIES

{4}

{5}

The Rainbow.

I.

II.

III.

{6}

IV.

V.

VI.

{7}

In the Land of the Sun.

I.

II.

{8}

The Sailor’s Bride.

I.

II.

{9}

III.

IV.

{10}

V.

VI.

{11}

The Broken Mirror.

I.

{12}

II.

III.

{13}

The Chieftain’s Lament.

I.

II.

III.

{14}

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

{15}

VIII.

IX.

X.

{16}

Shadow-Land. (Imitated from the Japanese.)

I.

II.

{17}

III.

IV.

{18}

V.

VI.

{19}

An Ode.

{22}

The Grave of a United Empire Loyalist.

I.

II.

{23}

III.

IV.

{24}

V.

VI.

{25}

VII.

VIII.

IX.

{26}

X.

XI.

{27}

O’er Crag and O’er Dune.

I.

{28}

II.

III.

{29}

They But Dream Who Believe.

{30}

The Magic Ring.[C]

I.

II.

III.

{31}

An Autumnal Dirge.

I.

II.

III.

{32}

IV.

V.

VI.

{33}

Songs Unsung.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

{34}

V.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

{35}

Compages Ossium. (Lines composed while looking into an opened grave from my study window.)

I.

II.

{36}

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

{37}

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

{38}

Mystics.

I.

II.

{39}

Eyes That Are Used to Weeping.

I.

{40}

II.

{41}

Oh, Thou Hast Wept Long.

I.

II.

{42}

III.

IV.

{43}

Transition.

I.

II.

{44}

III.

IV.

{45}

V.

VI.

{46}

VII.

{47}

The Mystery of the Sea.

I.

II.

{48}

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

{49}

Faith.

I.

II.

{50}

A Lament. (From an unpublished Drama written in early life.)

I.

II.

{51}

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

{52}

Ember Pictures.

I.

{53}

II.

III.

{54} {55}

POEMS

{56} {57}

A Legend of Dead Man’s Lake.

“Dead Man’s Lake is a lonely sheet of water lying in a desolate region of the Indian Peninsula, between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. It is situated in a forest of dead pines and hemlocks, blighted by bush fires long before the memory of any living man, and this adds materially to the desolation of an already dreary region of swamp and rock. The following legend is based on tradition, and the Indians to this day believe that the body of the murdered chief lies with upturned face at the bottom of the lake.”—Anon.

I.

{58}

II.

III.

{59}

IV.

V.

{60}

VI.

VII.

{61}

VIII.

IX.

{62}

X.

XI.

{63}

XII.

XIII.

{64}

XIV.

XV.

{65}

XVI.

{66}

The Vigil.[E] (A Romaunt of the late Rebellion in the U.S.A.)

I.

{67}

II.

III.

{68}

IV.

V.

{69}

VI.

VII.

{70}

VIII.

IX.

{71}

X.

XI.

{72}

XII.

XIII.

{73}

XIV.

XV.

{74}

XVI.

XVII.

{75}

XVIII.

XIX.

{76}

XX.

XXI.

{77}

XXII.

XXIII.

{78}

XXIV.

XXV.

{79}

A Fable in Two Cantos.

PRELUDE.

CANTO II.

MORAL.

{85}

Impromptu. (Suggested on seeing a vain lady gazing at herself in a mirror.)

{86} {87}

TRANSLATIONS

{88} {89}

Horace; Ode ix., Book iii.

{91}

Horace, Ode xvi., Book iii.

{94}

Homeric Garlands[F]

ILIAD I. 43-52.

ILIAD I. 528-539.

ILIAD III. 1-14.

ILIAD VI. 146-149.

{98}

ILIAD VI. 466-580.

{100}

The Dying Slave[G] (From the introduction to a Greek prize ode.)

I.

II.

{101}

III.

IV.

V.

{102}

The Lorelei. (From the German of Heine.)

I.

II.

{103}

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

{104}

The Two Streams. (Adapted from the Italian of Metastasio.) Quella onda che ruina.

I.

II.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] This belief is current among the Indian tribes of North America.

[B] It is commonly believed among the Indians that the spirits of the dead turn into doves.

[C] It is said somewhere in the Talmud, I believe, that King Solomon had a certain ring, which, when he would turn so that its rays would flash full upon any one, that person was compelled to tell what he was thinking about.

[D] The Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers were thus referred to by the Indians.

[E] similar story has been told by Francois Coppee in a French poem bearing the same title.

[F] This is but a feeble attempt to reproduce Homer in his own majestic Hexameter. Our language contains too many monosyllables to be cast successfully in this rhythm; hence we can give but a faint echo of the dash and roar of old Homer’s lines. The passages here reproduced, like most literary gems, lose much of their luster when taken from the settings in which the master has placed them.

[G] The slaves of the West Indies considered death as a passport to their native country.