Works

Our first Canadian job when boy,
In the big woods we did enjoy,
Large maple bush we then did tap
And to camp carried maple sap.

We stored it in great wooden trough,...

Come back to your mother, ye children, for shame,
Who have wandered like truants for riches or fame!
With a smile on her face, and a sprig in her cap,
She calls you to feast from her bountiful lap.
...

We send to you these rugged rhymes
In memory of the olden times,
Great chief of our poetic clan,
Admired by all, McLaughlan.

Go, faithless bloom! on Delia's cheek
Your boasted captivations try;
Alas! o'er Nature would you seek
To gain one moment's victory?
Her softer tint, sweet look, and gentle air,...

Bless'd be thy slumbers, little love!
Unconscious of the ills so near;
May no rude noise thy dreams remote,
Or prompt the artless early tear; -

For she who gave thee life is gone,...

The death of men is not the death
Of rights that urged them to the fray;
For men may yield
On battle-field
A noble life with stainless shield,
And swords may rust
Above their dust,...

Tho' unknown is the hand that bestow'd thee on me,
Sweet leaf! ev'ry fibre I'll warm with a kiss:
With the fame of her beauty thou well dost agree,
Whose presence shews conquest, whose triumph is bliss!

Show me again the time
When in the Junetide's prime
We flew by meads and mountains northerly! -
Yea, to such freshness, fairness, fulness, fineness, freeness,
Love lures life on.
...

Oh! form'd to prompt the smile or tear,
At once so sweet, yet so severe!
As much for you as him I grieve;
Ah! thoughtless! if you thus can leave
A mind with wit and learning bright,...

Say, Delia, why, in muslin shade,
Ah! say, dost thou conceal those eyes?
Such little stars were never made,
I'm sure, to shine thro' misty skies.

Say, are they wrapt in so much shade,...

(At No. 1, Newgate. Favored by Mr. Wontner.)


O Mary, I believed you true,
And I was blest in so believing;
But till this hour I never knew -
That you were taken up for thieving!
...

Upon Her Appearing At A Ball In An Elegant Plaid Dress,

And Having Repeatedly Before Expressed Her Preference Of The Scotish Nation.


Is it that plaided thus you wish to prove...

I look'd the fragrant garden round
For what I thought would picture best
Thy beauty and thy modesty;
A lily and a rose I found, -
With kisses on their leaves imprest,
I send the beauteous pair to thee.

Tell me what taught thee to display
A choice so sweet, and yet so rare,
To prize the modest buds of May
Beyond the diamond's prouder glare?

Say, was the grateful pref'rence paid...

Since Friendship soon must bid a fond adieu,
And, parting, wish your charms she never knew,
Dear Laura hear one genuine thought express'd,
Warm from the heart, and to the heart address'd: -...

Oft does the lucid pebble shine,
Just cover'd by the murm'ring sea;
Thus precious, thus conceal'd, it shews,
Fair maid! thy mind and modesty.

If searching eyes the stone discern,...

When Heav'n, sweet Laura! form'd thy mind,
With genius and with taste refin'd,
As if the union were too bright,
It spread the veil of diffidence,
That ev'ry ray, at first intense,...

Within his cold and cheerless cell,
I heard the sighing Censor tell
That ev'ry charm of life was gone,
That ev'ry noble virtue long
Had ceas'd to wake the Minstrel's song,...

Tho' nought, amid these darkened groves,
But various groups of death appear,
Scar'd at the sight, tho' fly the Loves,
And Sickness saddens all the year,

Yet, Clara, where you deign to stay,...

Oh! with what genuine pleasure do I trace
Each line of that long-lov'd, accustom'd, face,
Where Time, as if enchanted, and imprest
With all the virtues of thy peaceful breast,...