The Snows
OVER the Snows 1
Buoyantly goes
The lumberers’ bark canoe:
Lightly they sweep,
Wilder each leap,
Rending the white-caps through.
Away! Away!
With the speed of a startled deer,
While the steersman true
And his laughing crew
Sing of their wild career:
“Mariners glide
Far o’er the tide
In ships that are stanch and strong:
Safely as they
Speed we away,
Waking the woods with song.”
Away! Away!
With the speed of a startled deer,
While the laughing crew
Of the swift canoe
Sing of the raftsmen’s cheer:
“Through forest and brake,
O’er rapid and lake,
We ’re sport for the sun and rain;
Free as the child
Of the Arab wild,
Hardened to toil and pain.
Away! Away!
With the speed of a startled deer,
While our buoyant flight
And the rapid’s might
Heighten our swift career.”
Over the Snows
Buoyantly goes
The lumberers’ bark canoe:
Lightly they sweep,
Wilder each leap,
Tearing the white-caps through.
Away! Away!
With the speed of a startled deer,
There ’s a fearless crew
In each light canoe
To sing of the raftsmen’s cheer.
Note 1. The name given to a foaming rapid on the Upper Ottawa River, in Canada. [back]