Classic Poem

We lived among the mountains,
And below the peaks
Were jack-pines and the flood.
You were my only daughter,
Reft of mother care
Even from your babyhood;
But since you were
In her fair image formed,
Her dear love-presence
Was restored in you.

To you I was as mother,
Filled your lamp of life
With fragrant oil.
You shone resplendent.
Even now I see you standing,
Joy in eyes, like sunlight on the sea,
Or eve-glow on the hills
At vesper-hour.

I was the craggy mountain,
You the laurel tree
That nestled in its heart.
Defence was I and shelter,
You the pride and treasure of my years.
The sun beat on my bosom warming you,
And when the fury of the blast drove icily,
Loud-shrieking o'er my crags and spars
Like ghosts of crime-stained men,
You, in my coverts standing, sheltered warm,
Smiled as the blue heavens smile.

Often with open arms and radiant eyes,
You came to meet me,
Sunlight gleaming in your hair
That tossed upon my shoulder.
You were all my happiness,
A joy too sweet for words,
Too deep for tears.
You found new heart-ways to my soul,
New highroads for great love.

I was your father and your mother;
Loved you and was loved for both.
We waded in the streamlet,
Wandered in the wild;
We climbed the hills
When evening rouged the west,
And saw the haze to gloaming fade.
We watched the restless night-bird
Circling down the sky
And revelling in the dark.
We played at hide and seek
With every peeping star
That laughed and twinkled,
Just like you,
Daughter of long ago.
I taught you wisdom—heart-lore,
All 'twas well to know
Of what the world knew well;
But chiefly taught you
Wisdom of the heart
That made your living pure and true
And fitted your young soul
For guesting angels.

In promise, you were then
A prophecy of now,
The child of my great hope.
When storms broke me with blight,
You were my restoration;
Again was I the mountain,
Storm-swept still, but crowned
With everlasting light.
The sacred fire of your dawning
Fell in floods upon my heart,
Uplifting me to hope and joy and strength
Thus through the years,
With love and light
Companion of our ways,
We strolled together in the wild.
Before the sun, high-rising,
Bade the dew-drops hide
Behind their veils of light.
We found the simple flowers,
Woodbine, anemone, arbutus,
Breathing morning fragrance
While the brush of wizard dawn
Painted with beauty
All the eastern skies.
When nature sang her morning-song
We too went forth with God.

Morn hid the tranquil stars
In caverns of day;
Warmly, the sunny bars
On the alders lay;
Lightly each grassy spathe
Held its sphere of dew
Out of the dust and scathe
To the fleckless blue.
Safe from the curious eye,
From ravage or raid,
'Neath a sapphire sky,
In a wildwood glade,
The flowers blossomed for God,
Unseen, yet fragrant and fair;
Love could not pluck
From their thrones of green
The buds of His care.