Classic Poem

If I could know to-day
That in some far to-morrow you would long
To hear again the rapids' purling song
About their boulders grey,
That in some homesick moment you would fain
Be drifting through this sunlit June again—

If I were sure that you
Would sometime wish with all your heart to be
Adrift, and dreaming, while you shared with me
My wandering canoe,
I would not dread the shore of future days
That we must touch—then take our sundered ways.

If I could but believe
That sometime when you see a sunset sky
You will recall the night that you and I
Watched all the colours weave
Their wine-like glories 'round the western gate,
I would not ask a dearer thing of Fate.

I think, could I but know,
When Indian summer smiles with dusky lip,
You still will crave to hear my paddle dip
In rapids laughing low—
Then I would be assured beyond a doubt
Your heart had not—exactly, barred me out.