While singing, her eyes by fatality strayed
To a little canoe, that she loved as her life,
In which they had sailed from a flowery glade
The morning he promised to make her his wife.
Soon a wild fancy seized her, she paused not to ask
A moment its meaning, her only desire
Was strength to perform the congenial task
Her genius loci saw fit to inspire.
A brief minute more and the bark was untied,
With a fluttering heart and a tremulous hand,