Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE GATEKEEPER, by ISABEL ECCLESTONE MACKAY Poet's Biography First Line: The sunlight falls on old quebec Last Line: Gatekeeper of a peace-filled land! Subject(s): Military; Peace; Quebec, Battle Of (1775); Soldiers; War | ||||||||
THE sunlight falls on old Quebec, A city framed of rose and gold, An ancient gem more beautiful In that its beauty waxes old. O Pearl of Cities! I would set You higher in our diadem, And higher yet and higher yet, That generations still to be May kindle at your history! 'Twas here that gallant Champlain stood And gazed upon this mighty stream, These towering rock-walls, buttressed high A gateway to a land of dream; And all his silent men stood near While the great fleur-de-lis fell free, (Too awe-struck they to raise a cheer) And while the shining folds outspread The sunset burned a sudden red. Here paced the haughty Frontenac, His great heart torn with pride and pain, His clear eye dimming as it swept The land he might not see again, This infant world, this strange New France Dropped down as by some vagrant wind Upon the New World's vast expanse, Threatened yet safe! Through storm and stress Time's challenge to the wilderness. Here, when to ease her tangled skein Fate cut her threads and formed anew The pattern of the thing she planned And red war slipped the shuttle through, Montcalm met Wolfe! The bitter strife Of flag and flag was ended here And every man who gave his life Gave it that now one flag may wave, One nation rise upon his grave! The twilight falls on old Quebec And in the purple shines a star, And on her citadel lies peace More powerful than armies are. O fair dream city! Ebb and flow Of race feuds vex no more your walls. Can they of old see this? and know That, even as they dreamed, you stand Gatekeeper of a peace-filled land! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...I AM YOUR WAITER TONIGHT AND MY NAME IS DIMITRI by ROBERT HASS MITRAILLIATRICE by ERNEST HEMINGWAY RIPARTO D'ASSALTO by ERNEST HEMINGWAY WAR VOYEURS by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA THE DREAM OF WAKING by RANDALL JARRELL THE SURVIVOR AMONG GRAVES by RANDALL JARRELL SO MANY BLOOD-LAKES by ROBINSON JEFFERS A CHRISTMAS CHILD by ISABEL ECCLESTONE MACKAY |
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