Phil-o-rum's Canoe, and Madeleine Vercheres: Two Poems

 
An' I know I was comin' closer on place w'ere
I mus' tak' care,
W'ere de mos' worse current 's de las' wan too,
de current of Dead Riviere.
 
 
You can only steer, an' if rock be near, wit'
wave dashin' all aroun',
Better mak' leetle prayer, for on Dead Riviere,
some very smart man get drown;
But if you be locky an' watch youse'f, mebbe
reever won't seem so wide,
An' firse t'ing you know you 'll ronne ashore,
safe on de 'noder side.
 

tailpiece

MADELEINE VERCHERES

 
I've told you many a tale, my child, of the
old heroic days,
Of Indian wars and massacre, of villages ablaze
With savage torch, from Ville Marie to the
Mission of Trois Rivieres;
But never have I told you yet of Madeleine Vercheres.
 
 
Summer had come with its blossoms, and gaily
the robin sang,
And deep in the forest arches, the axe of the
woodman rang;
Again in the waving meadows, the sun-browned
farmers met
And out on the green St. Lawrence, the fisherman
spread his net.
 
 
And so through the pleasant season, till the
days of October came
When children wrought with their parents, and
even the old and lame
With tottering frames and footsteps, their
feeble labors lent
At the gathering of the harvest le bon Dieu
himself had sent.
 
 
For news there was none of battle, from the
forts on the Richelieu
To the gates of the ancient city, where the flag
of King Louis flew;
All peaceful the skies hung over the seigneurie
of Vercheres,
Like the calm that so often cometh ere the
hurricane rends the air.
 
 
And never a thought of danger had the Seigneur,
sailing away
To join the soldiers of Carignan, where down
at Quebec they lay,
But smiled on his little daughter, the maiden
Madeleine,
And a necklet of jewels promised her, when
home he should come again.
 
 
And ever the days passed swiftly, and careless
the workmen grew,
For the months they seemed a hundred since