A Song for Canada / Agnes Maule Machar

A Song for Canada

Our Canada, young, strong and free,
     Whose sceptre stretches far,
Whose hills look down on either sea,
     And front the polar star,—
Not for thy greatness, half unknown,
     Wide plains or mountains grand
But,— as we hold thee for our own,—
     We love our native land!
          God bless our mighty forest-land
               Of mountain, lake and river.
          Whose loyal sons, from strand to strand,
               Sing 'Canada for ever!'

In winter robes of virgin snow
     We proudly hail thee ours;
We crown thee when the south winds blow
     'Our Lady of the Flowers;'
We love thy rainbow-tinted skies,
     Thy mystic charm of spring ;
For us thine autumn's gorgeous dyes,
     For us thy song-birds sing.
          God bless our own Canadian land
               Of mountain, lake and river.
          Whose loyal sons, from strand to strand,
               Sing 'Canada for ever!'

Fair art thou when the summer wakes
     The cornfields' yellow gold;
Thy quiet pastures, azure lakes.
     For us their treasures hold;
To us each hill and dale is dear,
     Each rock and stream and glen,
Dear scattered homes of kindly cheer,
     And busy haunts of men.
          God bless our own Canadian land
               Of mountain, lake and river.
          Whose loyal sons, from strand to strand,
               Sing 'Canada for ever!'

Our sires their old traditions brought,
     Their lives of faithful toil;
For home and liberty they fought
     On our Canadian soil.
Queenston, Quebec, and Lundy's Lane
     Can stir our pulses still;
The lands they held through blood and pain
     A free-born people fill.
          God bless our own Canadian land
               Of mountain, lake and river.
          Whose loyal sons, from strand to strand,
               Sing 'Canada for ever!'

Saxon and Celt and Norman we:—
     Each race its memory keeps ;
Yet o'er us all, from sea to sea,
     One Red Cross banner sweeps
Long may our Greater Britain stand
     The bulwark of the free!
But, Canada, our own fair land,
     Our first love is for thee!
          God bless our own Canadian land
               Of mountain, lake and river.
          Well may thy sons, from strand to strand,
               Sing 'Canada for ever!'

~~

Agnes Maule Machar (1837-1927)

from Lays of the True North, and other Canadian poems, 1902

[Poem is in the public domain in Canada, the United States, and the European Union]

Agnes Maule Machar biography