The Song of the Exile—A Canadian Epic

TORONTO HART & COMPANY 31 & 33 KING ST. WEST
1891
Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture, by Hart & Company, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety.
DEDICATION .
To Thee, whose cheering words have urged me on When fainting heart advised me to stay My halting pen, and leave my task undone: To Thee, I humbly dedicate this lay. Strong, womanly heart! whose long-enduring pain Has not sufficed to rend thy faith in twain, But rather teaches thee to sympathise With those whose path through pain and darkness lies Thyself forgetting, if but thou canst be Of aid to others in adversity; The helpful word, the approbative smile From thee have ever greeted me, the while None other cheered. Then let this tribute be A token of my gratitude to Thee.

CANTO THE FIRST.
Ye shores of England, as ye fast recede The pain of parting rends my weary breast. I must regret—yet there is little need That I should mourn, for only wild unrest Is mine while in my native land I roam. Thou gav'st me birth, but cannot give a home.
II.
Yet happy were the days that have been mine, So happy that those days must needs be few. It could not be that that bright sun would shine For many months, and while its light was new The clouds arose, and, in one fated day, The jealous storm had swept my joys away.
III.
That fated day, when I believed that all The hopes that I had cherished in the past Would be fulfilled, and I should fondly call The being whom I loved my own at last: Then fell the storm, and bursting on my head, Still saved my body when my soul was dead.