Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE SNOWS by CHARLES SANGSTER

First Line: OVER THE SNOWS / BUOYANTLY GOES
Last Line: TO SING OF THE RAFTSMEN'S CHEER.
Subject(s): CANADA; INLAND WATERS; RIVERS; CANADIANS;

OVER the Snows
Buoyantly goes
The lumberers' bark canoe:
Lightly they sweep,
Wilder each leap,
Rending the white-caps through.
Away! Away!
With the speed of a startled deer,
While the steersman true
And his laughing crew
Sing of their wild career:
"Mariners glide
Far o'er the tide
In ships that are stanch and strong:
Safely as they
Speed we away,
Waking the woods with song."
Away! Away!
With the speed of a startled deer,
While the laughing crew
Of the swift canoe
Sing of the raftsmen's cheer:
"Through forest and brake,
O'er rapid and lake,
We're sport for the sun and rain;
Free as the child
Of the Arab wild.
Hardened to toil and pain.
Away! Away!
With the speed of a startled deer,
While our buoyant flight
And the rapid's might
Heighten our swift career."
Over the Snows
Buoyantly goes
The lumberers' bark canoe:
Lightly they sweep,
Wilder each leap,
Tearing the white-caps through.
Away! Away!
With the speed of a startled deer,
There's a fearless crew
In each light canoe
To sing of the raftsmen's cheer.



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