Elizabeth S. Macleod
Alexander Mackenzie
DRAW nigh with reverence, Canada!
Beyond all strain of mortal toil
He lieth, with unstainëd crest,
Calm-sleeping on his chosen soil.
No higher boon may patriot crave
Than grateful country’s honest tear;
Whilst Faith, outreaching ‘yond the grave,
With stainless emblem decks the bier.
Rare mind! firm as the granite stone
From out thy much-loved Scottish hills;
Soul, clear as sunlight’s upper zone
When smiling o’er Canadian rills!
Oh, well for thee, belovëd land,
That, ripening to thy golden prime,
Stout hearts, and faithful, held thine hand
And led thee on to ampler time.
Embalm his memory, Canada!
Nor taint with ill his honored name,
Who loved thee dearer than his life;
Who, serving thee, rejected fame.
Not now!—through many an after year,
In cool, calm retrospect of time,
Shall all his sterling worth appear,
In grandeur fitting and sublime.
Though stilled the aims of lofty end,
Though leaders in the field lie low,
Heaven’s purposes shall onward tend,
As ocean wavelets shoreward flow.
Wail not! he walketh in the light;
His work, imbued with high intent,
Doth magnify a country’s might,
And build his fairest monument.