CANADIAN POETS IN MINIATURE. 
 
 Bliss Carmen. 
 
 Arch. Lampman. 
 
 Geo. Martin. 
 
 If forced to pass in' silence hy 
 
 Some scc<res who roll a phrenzied eye 
 
 Athwart -along this great Dominion, 
 Impute it not to studied :-ligh*, 
 Ye heirs of super-solar light, 
 
 Nor pipe me down with harsh opinion. 
 
 Hail Carmen^ in thy robe of mist, 
 Adorned with streaks of amethyst. 
 
 Whose cut the cold logician crazes ; 
 Hail Lampman ! prone to pensive mood, 
 In love with Nature's virginhood. 
 
 Among the Millet and the daisies. 
 
 True singers both, if for the sake 
 Of beauty's charm we freely make 
 
 Concessions granted Keats and Shelley ; 
 Your dainty verses serve, at least, 
 To round a sentimental feast. 
 
 Divinely flavored cream and jelly. 
 
 A little more of human life, 
 
 Its love and hate and ceaseless strife. 
 
 The tragic drama of the ages, 
 Might win for each that better part, 
 The homage of the human heart, 
 
 And bind us to your honied pages. 
 
 If aught in Martin's muse offends. 
 With Marfruerife he makes amends. 
 
 And so we give him absolution ; 
 Smile, Hebe, smile while holding up 
 For him an overflowing cup 
 
 And seat him on a silken cushion. 
 
 Chas. G. D. Roberts. 
 
 In Roberts one is sure to find 
 A vintage that exalts the mind 
 
 Strong aqua vitaj, Madame Grundy ; 
 Blow fresh, ye winds, and chant and hum 
 A tribute to his genius from 
 
 Vancouver to the Bay of Fundy. 
 
CANADIAN POETS IN MINIATURE. 
 
 6oi 
 
 John Reade. 
 
 \ 
 
 / 
 
 Orion, ^od of stormy skies, 
 Behold him with thy sleepless eyes 
 
 And shield him from the world's rude bluster 
 For has he not thy story told 
 In words that flow like molten gold, 
 
 Reflecting thy eternal lustre. 
 
 In Rcude the polished scholar, see 
 How sense and harmony agree ; 
 
 Too scanty now his classic numbers ; 
 Too modest to assert his place, 
 And jostle in the bardic race. 
 
 He proses while his musa slumbers. 
 
 Awake, O dreamer ! fancy not 
 Thy early melody forgot. 
 
 The grace and charm of Merlin's story ; 
 Again thy lucent wings expand 
 And shed upon our smiling land 
 
 A new and more exceeding glory. 
 
 J. Hunter Duvar. 
 
 Rev. A. G. Lockhart, 
 "Pastor Felix " 
 
 Lo, in the east a regal star 
 Illumes the heavens ; hail Duvar! 
 
 The Garden of the Gulf adorning ; 
 No petty satellite art thou 
 With borrowed light upon thy brow ; — 
 
 Shine on, and cheer our Nation's morning. 
 
 Who wakes the harp of varied tone 
 Which youth and age delight to own ? 
 
 Our learned and loved convivial Murray ; 
 All things upon the earth below, 
 And in the heavens, he seems to know. 
 
 And laughs, when querists think to flurry. 
 
 CliaK. Mair. 
 
 Hail, Pastor Felix ! king of hearts. 
 Who does not know his " taking arts " ? 
 
 Who fails to read his tender lyrics ? 
 Like voices of the wind and stream 
 They speak to us as in a dream, 
 
 And shame our metrical empyrics. 
 
6o2 
 
 TJfE DOMINION- ILLUSTRATED MONTHLY. 
 
 Chas Sangster. 
 
 For Mair's broad brow a wreath of bay, 
 And roseleax es scattered on his way, 
 
 We grant with some slight hesitation ; 
 For does he not say what he thini<s, 
 Instead of using- shrugs and winks, 
 
 When Yankees rouse his indignation ? 
 
 McLdchtin, Stiiiji'.'sfcr, wear your crowns 
 Unmoved by curHng' lips and frowns 
 
 Of those who deem you out of fashion ; 
 Brave pioneers ! you led the way 
 Where youngsters blow their horns to-day 
 
 With less o[' sterling sense than passion. 
 
 in Scot/ the strength of Thor is seen ; 
 A norland tempest, swift and keen. 
 
 We witness in his daring pinion ; 
 Anon, the softest zephyrs sigh 
 Caresses blooms that fade and die 
 
 Within his fairvhuid dominion. 
 
 Rev. F. G. Scott. 
 
 W. W. Campbell. 
 
 This much is due, but for the rest 
 Some sad reversal ; through his Quest 
 
 A wave of intellectual treason 
 Rolls dark and dismal, sweeping o'er 
 Pure gems that pave an ocean floor, 
 
 A ghostly ice flood, out of season. 
 
 Next Campbell, golden-shod, appears. 
 Bearing his sheaf of ripened ears ; 
 
 Dear, dearest to thy heart, fond Mother ; 
 For he has touched the deepest deep 
 Where thy bruised love is sure to weep, 
 
 And hallowed it as has no other. 
 
 Arthur Weir. 
 
 A sprig of laurel pass to JVeir, 
 His country's special sonetteer, 
 
 For if in spots a little rusty 
 He shows us, the persistent elf 
 He yet may rival Petrarch's self 
 
 In lines that never shall grow musty. 
 
CANADIAN POETS IN MINIATURE. 
 
 603 
 
 W. D. Lightliall. 
 
 To IJsrhtlitilCs pjitriotic zeal 
 Is due a cloud-invading peal 
 
 Oi praise from brother bards Canadian ; 
 I'or has he not to Kngland shown 
 That we can pipe, and flute, and drone 
 
 As did god Pan in woods Arcadian. 
 
 What fair enchantress leads the choir 
 Oi N\ niplis who feed the sacred fire, 
 
 With spices on Apollo's altar? 
 Scninus, chanting notes that tell 
 Of legendary lore and spell, 
 
 Like sound of timbrel, harp, and psalter. 
 
 Tis pity that her Gallic rhymes. 
 Those jingling bells of olden times 
 
 Should mar, with wearisome intrusion, 
 The symphony of native strains, 
 That medicine our earthly pains, 
 
 And make " dull care " a blest illusion. 
 
 Mrs Frances J. Harrison, 
 '■ Sera mis " 
 
 Mrs S. A. Curzoii. 
 
 Ciii'zoH ! FidcUs! Pauline! three 
 Sweet muses linked with Goivaii Leu, 
 
 Demand a generous libation: — 
 For each has brought her offering meet. 
 To lay at Poesy's white feet, 
 
 Rosebuds o^ purest exhalation. 
 
 With bared bowed head I pass by those 
 Who in their silent crypts repose. 
 
 And leave their honored names unspoken ; 
 With moistened eyes we ponder o'er 
 The sad vicissitudes they bore, 
 
 Till hope took flight and hearts were broken. 
 
 Miss A. M. Machar, 
 "Fidelia." 
 
 Adieu ! sweet wizards, each and all, 
 WHio here in my enchanted hall 
 
 Have made for me an hour of pleasure ; 
 Vour songs shall haunt my charmed ears 
 Till in the dusk the shape appears 
 
 That bids us foot an awkward measure. 
 
 Clio.