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(From Frontenac)
IN the rich pomp of dying day | |
| Quebec, the rock-throned monarch, glowed,— | |
| Castle and spire and dwelling gray | |
| The batteries rude that niched their way | |
| Along the cliff, beneath the play | 5 |
| Of the deep yellow light, were gay, | |
| And the curved flood, below that lay, | |
| In flashing glory flowed; | |
| Beyond, the sweet and mellow smile | |
| Beamed upon Orleans’ lovely isle; | 10 |
| Until the downward view | |
| Was closed by mountain-tops that, reared | |
| Against the burnished sky, appeared | |
| In misty, dreamy hue. | |
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| West of Quebec’s embankments rose | 15 |
| The forests in their wild repose. | |
| Between the trunks, the radiance slim | |
| Here came with slant and quivering blaze; | |
| Whilst there, in leaf-wreathed arbors dim, | |
| Was gathering gray the twilight’s haze. | 20 |
| Where cut the boughs the background glow | |
| That striped the west, a glittering belt, | |
| The leaves transparent seemed, as though | |
| In the rich radiance they would melt. | |
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| Upon a narrow, grassy glade, | 25 |
| Where thickets stood in grouping shade, | |
| The light streaked down in golden mist, | |
| Kindled the shrubs, the greensward kissed, | |
| Until the clover-blossoms white | |
| Flashed out like spangles large and bright. | 30 |
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