We gain Alberta’s grazing lands,
Lovely with vales and streams and hills—
And countless kine are herded here.
Stretching away to the foothills
Are undulations, emerald sweeps
Of sunny plains in beauty drest,
With mountains towering to view—
This is Canada’s “great wild west.”
We pierce the Rockies in our flight;
The steely way is swift and sure,
Our land’s necessity and pride,
Long as our union shall endure.
But on and on we safely glide,
By mountains vast and stern and hoary;
Our pen but faintly can portray
The scenes of panoramic glory.
Here lovely valleys meet the eye,
All rife with summer’s winsome gladness;
The summits of those gray cold peaks
Are wrapt in winter’s sternest sadness,
Defying the elements’ rage
Through mystic and untold ages.
God’s hand hath builded them in might
To commemorate His pages.
Below is verdant leaf and flower,
Flora and fauna everywhere;
The peaks are wrapt in perpetual snow
And lit by the sun’s fierce glare.
Below is the sigh of soft winds
And the ripple of cooling streams;
Aloft is the bitterest air,
Where the frost eternally gleams.
The sides of the mountains ever
Are great waves of emerald green;
While the streams, from summits falling
White as snow, are foaming between;
The cedar and pine trees ever
Tossing aloft their fronded plumes,
Where the winds forever whisper
Nature’s subtle and mournful runes.
And through and beyond the Selkirks,
Down the Fraser we calmly glide—
All hail, fair British Columbia,
Thou rich gem by the ocean’s side!
Lovely land of mountain and stream,
We greet thee with bosom aflame;
A crown of laurel awaits thee,
We sing of thy greatness and fame.
The fleets of the world come to thee;
Thy cities are growing apace;
Thou art vigorously gaining,
And everywhere we may trace
Prosperity and refinement
In those far west Canadian homes;
The field and the mine contribute,
And we hail thee in heartiest tones.
Out o’er a measure of ocean,
Of ripple and bright sunny smile,
The sea accords us a welcome
To Vancouver’s fair sea-girt isle—
Last link in the chain of our union,
A bright gem in the Western sea,
Imbued with loyal devotion,
Prosperous and happy and free.
We breathe the ozone of ocean,
Where our mammoth ships sail away
To the land of the Celestials,
And the Japs, at the break of day.
And southward unto Australia,
And the distant isles of the sea,
Our commerce is fast extending,
Reaching out vigorously.
Northward, by Behring and Polar seas,
E’er fearlessly our good ships go,
Undeterred by storms of the deep,
Or perpetual frost and snow;
Seeking and finding seal and whale,
Faithful hearts that know no fear,
Venturing all in the enterprise
For their home and loved ones dear.