Dimmed thy bright eyes, Oh Canada!
Bedimmed with the incense of woe;
Hushed thy young joy-peals of laughter;
Whose heart beat to thine lieth low.
Great heart! which, in truest devotion,
Kept faith to its earliest shrine;
Great land! widely girthed of each ocean;
His lifetime of service was thine.
Well mays't thou weep, yet not repine;
Rude wert thou, an untutored child,
When first his strong, firm hand clasped thine,
And led thee o'er thy boundless wild,
And cleared the mists from thy young eyes,
As with magician's gifted wand;
Till Hope's bright dawn illumed thy skies,
And glorified this boundless land.
The mind astute discerned thy force;
The springs of plenty watered dearth;
Then rose, from infound, ample source,
The mightiest structure on this earth:
The home where freeborn souls are free;
Where, 'neath blue skies, o'er rich green sod
No worship bends the humble knee,
Save homage to fair Freedom's God.
Though sore thy heart, Oh Canada!
Grudge not thy Chief his well-earned rest;
The veteran who hath braved the strife
May fold his arms o'er peaceful breast.
Droop banners o'er his honored bier!
Strew _immortelles_ of every clime!
His larger life, in nobler sphere,
Is bounded not with hedge of time.