Wayside Weeds

Till they attained a magnitude
Of 0·01μ.

Then somewhere over ·01
And under ·05
Amoeboid feelers out they sent
And took some liquid nourishment
And, lo, they were alive!

In pre-Archæan periods
Let fancy have her fling,
But, Adam, will your faith allow
Such goings on can happen now
When George the Fifth is King?

Well, times may change, and we may change,
But find him when I can,
I’ll drink a health to one who’s stood
For all that’s honest, kind and good;
So here’s to you, Old Man!

    1912.

As a Watch in the Night[10 - Read at the Dinner given in May, 1913, in honour of Professor van der Smissen, Professor of German in University College, Toronto, on his retirement after forty-eight years’ service in the University and University College.]

The soldier called from rest or play
To take his post as sentinel,
To guard until the break of day
Some sore-beleaguered citadel,

Springs to his arms with beating heart
To take some war-worn veteran’s place,
Proud to perform a soldier’s part,
Dreading what yet he dares to face.

His comrades’ footsteps on his ears
Ring fainter and fainter. Silence falls
About him. Moments seem like years,
And loneliness his soul appals.

But when the signal rockets flare
He strains his eyes the void to scan;
When sounds of battle fill the air
In face of death he plays the man.

He stays where duty bids him stay,
The boldest when he fears the most;
And Rounds, come whensoe’er they may,
Find him alert and at his post.

Unnumbered now the moments fly
By him whose thoughts are set upon
Each moment’s task. The eastern sky
Brightens with dawn. The night is gone.

And hark, at last he grows aware
Of footsteps his release that tell.
Clear rings his challenge, “Who goes there?”
“Relief!” “Advance, Relief, all’s well!”

    1913.

To R. R. W.[11 - Read at the Dinner given in honour of Professor R. Ramsay Wright, Professor of Biology and Dean of the Faculty of Arts in the University of Toronto, on his retirement, May, 1912.]

From Scotland’s mists across the sea you bore
The sacred fire, (kindled by him whose name
Has made the century famous with his fame,)
And bid our lamp burn brighter than before.
Upon our Tree, a branch from Scotland’s shore
You grafted, and behold our Tree became
Wanton in leafage; with blossoms all aflame;
Deep rooted; and with boughs to heaven that soar.

We see the better issue from the strife,
And hope the best. In loathsome crawling things
We feel the fluttering of jewelled wings.
In Nature’s score, with seeming discords rife,
We seek to read, with you, the note that brings
To harmony the jarring chords of life.

notes

1

Awarded the prize for English verse in the University of Toronto in 1865.

2

The fickle botanists have changed the generic name of the Skunk Cabbage to Spathyema. For reasons which will be obvious to the intelligent reader, the author prefers to retain the older designation.

3

The place where the Maskinongé dwells. In the vulgar tongue “Lunge Lake.”

4

Pronounced Mackadavy.

5