To the Ottawa
To the Ottawa
Original Text
The Poems of Archibald Lampman, ed. Duncan Campbell Scott (Toronto: George N. Morang, 1900): 297, as reprinted in The Poems of Archibald Lampman (including At the Long Sault), intro. by Margaret Coulby.
2Of sombre spruce-woods and the forest fens,
3Laden with sound from far-off northern glens
4Where winds and craggy cataracts complain,
5Voices of streams and mountain pines astrain,
6The pines that brood above the roaring foam
8Is distant yet, a shelter far to gain.
9Aye still to eastward, past the shadowy lake
11The mightier stream, thy comrade, waits for thee,
12The beryl waters that espouse and take
13Thine in their deep embrace, and bear thee on
14In that great bridal journey to the sea.
Notes
1] The Ottawa River, flowing south out of Lac Témiscamingue (Timiskaming is the English form), is a chief tributary of the St. Lawrence River and links the northern Laurentian forests and the southern farmyards of Upper Canada. Back to Line
7] La Montague or Les Erables: rapids of the Ottawa River. Back to Line
10] Rigaud: a town on the south shore of the Ottawa River not far from the St. Lawrence. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1943
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
RPO 1997.
Rhyme