I.
IN the seaport of Saint Malo, ’twas a smiling morn in May,
When the Commodore Jacques Cartier to the westward sail’d away;
In the crowded old cathedral all the town were on their knees,
For the safe return of kinsmen from the undiscover’d seas;
And every autumn blast that swept o’er pinnacle and pier,
Fill’d manly hearts with sorrow and gentle hearts with fear.
II.
A year passed o’er Saint Malo—again came round the day
When the Commodore Jacques Cartier to the westward sail’d away;
But no tidings from the absent had come the way they went,
And tearful were the vigils that many a maiden spent;
And manly hearts were fill’d with gloom, and gentle hearts with fear,
When no tidings came from Cartier at the closing of the year.
III.
But the earth is as the Future, it hath its hidden side,
And the Captain of Saint Malo was rejoicing, in his pride,
In the forests of the North—while his townsmen mourn’d his loss,
He was rearing on Mount Royal the fleur-de-lis and cross;
And when two months were over and added to the year,
Saint Malo hailed him home again, cheer answering to cheer.
IV.
He told them of a region, hard, iron-bound and cold,
Where no seas of pearl abounded, nor mines of shining gold,
Where the wind from Thulé freezes the word upon the lip,
And the ice in spring comes sailing athwart the early ship;
He told them of the frozen scene until they thrill’d with fear,
And piled fresh fuel on the hearth to make him better cheer.
V.
But when he changed the strain—he told how soon is cast
In early spring the fetters that hold the waters fast;
How the winter causeway, broken, is drifted out to sea,
And rills and rivers sing with pride the anthem of the free;
How the magic wand of summer clad the landscape, to his eyes,
Like the dry bones of the just, when they wake in Paradise.
VI.
He told them of the Algonquin braves—the hunters of the wild,
Of how the Indian mother in the forest rocks her child;
Of how, poor souls! they fancy, in every living thing
A spirit good or evil, that claims their worshipping;
Of how they brought their sick and maim’d for him to breathe upon,
And of the wonders wrought for them through the Gospel of St. John.
VII.
He told them of the river, whose mighty current gave
Its freshness, for a hundred leagues, to Ocean’s briny wave;
He told them of the glorious scene presented to his sight,
What time he rear’d the cross and crown on Hochelaga’s height,
And of the fortress cliff that keeps of Canada the key,
And they welcomed back Jacques Cartier from his perils over sea.
The Poems of Thomas D’Arcy McGee by Thomas D’Arcy McGee (1886) | Thomas D’Arcy McGee (1825–1868)
Suggestions
Have your children do one or more of the following:
- Read the poem aloud.
- Identify the lines that rhyme.
- What is the rhyme scheme? (AABBCC)
- Older students can rewrite the poem as a narrative.
- Learn more about Cartier.
- Locate the seaport of Saint Malo on a map.
- Learn more about the history of Mount Royal.
- Explain why the “wind from Thulé freezes the word upon the lip.“
- Learn more about Hochelaga.
- Locate Hochelaga on a map.
- McGee was a Irish-Canadian journalist, poet, and politician known as a “defender of minority rights.” McGee was assassinated for his stand against the methods used by Irish nationals to win their independence from the British. After his death his poems and historical essays were collected and published.
- Create an author page for McGee.
Further Information
Drawing & Writing Notebooking Paper {Free Download}
For copying the poem.
Author Notebooking Paper
Create an author page.
