T. F. Young

“ Or by the turf fire, upon Erin's old sod,
Each Irishman, kneeling in humble devotion,
Would love all his brothers, while praying to God.
Oh Erin, mavourneen! Let Love's joyous fingers
Strike out from your harps, one glad, resonant strain,
And, if one discordant, harsh, jarring note lingers,
Oh, strike for your country, together again!
And then, when your hands and your hearts are united,
When you kneel at one shrine, when you bow to one law.
With a sea of glad brightness, your isle shall be
lighted,
While thunders the chorus, of Erin-go-bragh. ”

“ In fadeless verdure may it stay,
And long thy gifted head entwine,
For time will mark full many a day,
Till head and heart shall live, like thine.
ROBERT BURNS. One hundred years have come and gone,
Since thy brave spirit came to earth,
Since Scotland saw thy genius dawn,
And had the joy to give thee birth.
There was no proud and brilliant throng,
To celebrate thine advent here,
And but the humble heard the song,
Which first proclaim'd a poet near.
But genius will assert its right
To speak a word, or chant a lay,
And thou, with independent might,
Asserted it from day to day. ”

“ Literature gives life to a nation, or rather it is the reflection of a nation's life and thought, in a mirror, which cheers, strengthens and ennobles those who look into it, and study what is there displayed. Literature must grow with our nation, and, when growing, it will aid the latter's progress in no small degree.
Pedantic critics may find fault with my modest productions, and perhaps justly, in regard to grammatical construction, and mechanical arrangement, but I shall be satisfied, if the public discern a vein of true poetry glittering here and there through what I have just written. ”

“ When nature rises, with respect, to greet
The lord of day on his majestic seat,
Like some great personage of high degree,
Who cometh forth his subjects all to meet,
Like him, but yet more glorious far than he,
He comes with splendor bright, to shed o'er land and
sea.
With stately, slow and solemn march he comes,
And gradually pours forth his brilliant rays,
Unheralded by sounding brass or drums,
His blazing glory on our planet plays,
And sendeth healing light thro' darken'd ways.
His undimm'd splendor maketh mortals quail,
And e'en, at times, it fiercely strikes and slays ”

“ Sound up, ye harps and all.
Let music's loud and sweetest strain
Beat from our hearts each ill;
Let thoughts of those assuage our pain,
Who are around us still.
Oh, winsome maid, oh, hearty youth,
I urge you on to glee,
For, in your innocence and truth,
You all are dear to me.
Nor youth, nor age should cherish gloom,
And voices oft should sing,
So give the gladsome voices room,
And let the joy-bells ring. ”

“ Oh, Erin! I love thee in spite of thine errors,
And now for thee, Erin, my heart is forlorn,
Disturb'd as thou art by such various terrors,
Thou beautiful isle, where my kindred were born.
E'en now, in my thoughts, I can climb thy steep
mountains,
Or roam through thy valleys, where green shamrocks
grow,
Or over thy meadows, where hedges of hawthorn
Stand gracefully clipp'd, an impassable row. ”

“ The mind is free from care;
No thoughts of aught, save present joys,
Can find an entrance there.
And, if a thought of future years
Steal o'er the careless mind,
That thought speaks of a happier time
When years are left behind.
But when the years of youth have fled,
And life is fill'd with pain,
We think full oft of vanish'd years,
And wish them back again. ”

“ Can never gauge the mighty strain,
That burst the genial poet's heart.
It is enough for us to know
The songs he sang for Scotland's sake,
Which winds of time can never blow
Into oblivion's silent lake.
O Burns! thy life was sad, we know,
Thy sensitive and fertile mind
Had to withstand full many a blow,
Dealt by the ignorant and blind.
But let us do thee justice here,
Tho' distant from thy native shore,
For all thy faults repress the sneer,
And thy great qualities explore. ”

“ With great delight, his line,
Or listens to the rippling brook,
Beside the wild grape vine.
The finny treasures now are scarce,
In river, creek or rill,
For poison'd are they by the dust,
That comes from lumber mill.
The picturesque and shady grove,
Which streamlets hurried by,
Are now uncover'd by the sun;
Full many a stream is dry.
The poet's land is going fast;
Wild beauty must give place
To useful and substantial things,
Which benefit our race. ”

“ Ennobles, soothes and lends a joy to life—
A pow'r, which counteracts the trickster's wile
And blunts the edge of slander undeserv'd and vile.
From where the fierce Atlantic waters rage,
Unto the mild Pacific's fertile shore,
Small villages to cities rise and wage
A steady war; but not a war of gore—
A friendly rivalry exists, no more,
Save in the far North-West, where savage clan
Ungrateful rise, and make a serious sore,
Whose pains increas'd, as eastward far it ran,
And plac'd the British race beneath the Frenchman's ban. ”

“ There comes a change o'er earth, and trees, and sky,
And all creation's work wherever found,
Save man, for he, with unawaken'd eye,
In dozing, slothful ease, will yet for hours lie.
The grandest artificial sights will pall
Upon the taste, and oft repeated, tire,
But each succeeding morn, the monarch Sol
Bedecks the world with fresh and vig'rous fire,
That cheers the fainting heart and sootheth ire.
Each morn, the gazer seeth something new,
And even what he saw will never tire,
For in an aspect clear and fresh, the view
Will gladden still your eyes, tho' oft it's gladden'd
you. ”

“ And listen'd, while a nation's mighty call
Invited him to honor and to fame,
And crowds his praises shout, with loud acclaim;
He saw in wealthy town his mansion wide,
And in the country view'd his fields, the same,
Until, in rapture, he had almost cried,
"In happiness and wealth all others are outvied." ”

“ And my old class mates have wander'd, too,
To seek for fame, or bread.
And those who still are near my home,
And whom I often see,
Have come to manhood's grave estate;
They're boys no more to me.
And tho' we meet in converse yet,
And each one's thoughts enjoy,
Our thoughts and words are not so free,
As when, each was a boy. ”

“ And all our hopes are there.
Our country thrives, and so shall we,
On this, our native sod,
If we respect our maple tree,
And worship only God.
The maple leaf! the maple leaf!
Tho' in the fall it fade,
May it but die, to bloom again,
And brighten up the glade. ”

“ Suffice it, that it suits the mortal Now,
And leads our thoughts to the eternal Then,
When darkness shall be light, to ransom'd men,
When dreams of bliss, with glad fruition crown'd,
And happiness, untold by prophet's pen,
Shall fill the hearts of those who sought and found
That peace, which lighted up, and cheer'd life's weary
round. ”

“ Not always, tho', to warm and cheer.
At times thy influence is chill,
And checks the noble rage of thought,
As ice can check a flowing rill.
One cutting word of ours can wilt,
Or blast the young heart's fairest flow'r,
And tumble down air castles built,
By this unseen affection's pow'r.
That man is brave, who acts his part,
'Mid comrades faithful, known and brave,
But braver far is he, whose heart
Upholds itself upon the wave.
For men have shrunk with coward fright,
At terrors which they ne'er might feel,
Had Sympathy's strange, magic might
Inspir'd their hearts to face the steel. ”

“ Will last through ev'ry strain,
And time will brighten ev'ry joy,
And darken ev'ry pain.
The rippling of our childhood's laugh,
Will roll adown the years,
And time will blunt, each day we live,
The mem'ry of our tears.
Our boyhood's hopes, and boyhood's dreams,
And aspirations high,
Will doubtless never be fulfill'd,
Until the day we die. ”

“ In passing an opinion on my literary venture, of course the youthful state of our country will be taken into consideration, for it is a state which necessarily tinges all of our productions, literary or otherwise, with a certain amount of crudity. Consequently, reasonable men will not expect that felicity of expression, and that ripeness and happiness of thought, which would be expected in the productions of an older country, although they may be aware that true poetry is not the result of education, or even the refinements of a nation long civilized. ”

“ The grass is fill'd with buzzing insect throngs,
There's music in the air, and every tree
Is vocal with the wild-bird's gladsome songs,
Songs unrestrain'd by care or memory of wrongs.
A million tiny drops of crystal dew,
In shining splendor make the meadows fair ”

“ When suddenly, with crashing force,
The door descends—the bolt is drawn.
And what can be the pray'r of those,
Who learn'd with awe thy dreadful death?
It is that thou God's mercy found,
Before thou yielded up thy breath.
It is that thou that mercy found,
Which thou to others never gave;
That thy rebellious, restless soul,
A pardon found, beyond the grave.
Man's justice had to take its course,
And tie the fatal hempen knot,
For vengeance cried from out the ground,
Where lay the blood of murder'd Scott. ”

“ Strange mixture of the good and ill,
He strives continually to bend
Those qualities, with wondrous skill,
To meet in one, which never blend.
* * * * *
DAVID'S LAMENTATION OVER SAUL AND JONATHAN. The beauty of Israel is slain on thy mountains,
The mighty are low, and how great is their fall,
But tell not our grief in Gath, by the fountains,
And publish it not within Askelon's wall,
Lest the Philistines' daughters shall mock at our
sorrow,
And triumph in gladness o'er us in our pain,
And sound all their timbrels and harps on the morrow,
While here we are sore, in lamenting our slain. ”

“ For music sends its cheering strain,
Where flowers grow within the green.
Here virtuous dames with busy hand,
Untiring do what should be done,
And sons and fathers till the land,
And to each manly duty run.
The winsome maids with willing hearts,
In youthful beauty all aglow,
Right cheerfully perform their parts
Where duty's voice may bid them go. ”

“ Thy shining youth, men much too freely prais'd,
And then the cry of blame, too loudly rais'd.
The fickle crowd, thy person loudly curs'd,
And then thou fled, and dar'd them do their worst.
Unfortunate in love, thy youthful heart
Was pain'd, and likewise with the burning smart
Thy vanity receiv'd from critic's pen,
Which often makes sarcastic, stronger men. ”

“ All round, where'er they look, they see a change,
By rolling lake, by river, mount or rill;
Wherever feet may walk, or eyes may range,
There is a transformation pleasing, new and strange.
Schools, churches, built in costly, solid style,
Proclaim the fact that here a higher life
Is liv'd than that of seeking all the while
For wealth, and pow'r, amid ignoble strife,
Degrading unto husband, son or wife. ”

“ Unfitted for aught, but the work of the pen.
He singeth, but yet he must live, as he sings;
He hath wants of the earth, that must be supplied;
And tho' 'tis an off'ring most humble he brings,
He hopes that your favors will not be denied. ”

“ And tho' I may deserve the blame,
Let kindness soothe the smart.
TO A FRIEND. The youthful joys of vanish'd years,
The joys e'en now we share,
Have something of a sacred bliss,
Which time can not impair.
For when the years of youth have gone,
Its joys and hopes have flown,
The mem'ry clings with fond embrace—
Those joys are still our own. ”

“ And hopes thrown to the ground,
I live, but with an aching heart
I tread life's weary round."
"And what is life?" This time a man
With hoary hair replied:
"This life consists of gracious boons,
With evils by their side.
"To leave the bad, and choose the good,
Is done but by the few,
And that is why mankind are such
A discontented crew. ”

“ With these words by way of introduction and explanation, I dedicate this little book of mine to the Canadian public, hoping that whatever they may think of me as a poet, they will not forget that I am a loyal Canadian, zealous in behalf of anything that may tend to refine, instruct and elevate my country, and anxious to see her take an honourable stand among the other nations of the earth. ”

“ Far, far beyond the white man's reach,
Was this lone spot, in years gone by.
The lofty bank, and level plain,
With wide-mouth'd maitland stretch'd to view,
Look'd out upon the inland main,
And back, where virgin forests grew.
No harbor then, nor water-break,
Made by the mind and hand of man,
But fast into the rolling lake,
In nature's course, the river ran. ”

“ To rule with mild, persuasive might,
But with a strong, unconscious sway,
What pow'r thou hast o'er human hearts
We daily feel, we daily see;
For men and women act their parts,
Encourag'd and upheld by thee. ”