The Gatekeeper

THE sunlight falls on old Quebec,

A city framed of rose and gold,

An ancient gem more beautiful

In that its beauty waxes old.

O Pearl of Cities! I would set

You higher in our diadem,

And higher yet and higher yet,

That generations still to be

May kindle at your history!

‘ Twas here that gallant Champlain stood

And gazed upon this mighty stream,

These towering rock-walls, buttressed high —

A gateway to a land of dream;

And all his silent men stood near

While the great fleur-de-lis fell free,

( Too awe-struck they to raise a cheer )

And while the shining folds outspread

The sunset burned a sudden red.

Here paced the haughty Frontenac,

His great heart torn with pride and pain,

His clear eye dimming as it swept

The land he might not see again,

This infant world, this strange New France

Dropped down as by some vagrant wind

Upon the New World's vast expanse,

Threatened yet safe! Through storm and stress

Time's challenge to the wilderness.

Here, when to ease her tangled skein

Fate cut her threads and formed anew

The pattern of the thing she planned

And red war slipped the shuttle through,

Montcalm met Wolfe! The bitter strife

Of flag and flag was ended here —

And every man who gave his life

Gave it that now one flag may wave,

One nation rise upon his grave!

The twilight falls on old Quebec

And in the purple shines a star,

And on her citadel lies peace

More powerful than armies are.

O fair dream city! Ebb and flow

Of race feuds vex no more your walls.

Can they of old see this? and know

That, even as they dreamed, you stand

Gatekeeper of a peace-filled land!