And still as I floated by rock and by shell,
My bark raised a murmur aloud,
And it danced on the waves, as they rose and they fell,
Like a fay on a bright summer cloud.
I thought, as I passed o'er the liquid expanse,
With the landscape in smiling array,
How blest I should be, if my life could advance,
Thus tranquil and sweetly away.
The skies were serene—not a cloud was in sight,
Not an angry surge beat on the shore,
And I gazed on the waters and then on the light,
Till my vision could bear it no more.
Oh, long shall I think of those silver-bright lakes,
And the scenes they revealed to my view,
My friends, and the wishes I formed for their sakes,
And my bright yellow birchen canoe!
Michilimackinack, September, 1837.H. R. S.
[MARK!]
BY PATER ABRAHAM A SANCTA CLARA.
In Two Parts.—Part Two.