The Snows

Charles Sangster (1822–1893)

OVER the Snows

Buoyantly goes

The lumberers’ bark canoe:

Lightly they sweep,

Wilder each leap,

Rending the white-caps through.

Away! Away!

With the speed of a startled deer,

While the steersman true

And his laughing crew

Sing of their wild career:

“Mariners glide

Far o’er the tide

In ships that are stanch and strong:

Safely as they

Speed we away,

Waking the woods with song.”

Away! Away!

With the speed of a startled deer,

While the laughing crew

Of the swift canoe

Sing of the raftsmen’s cheer:

“Through forest and brake,

O’er rapid and lake,

We ’re sport for the sun and rain;

Free as the child

Of the Arab wild,

Hardened to toil and pain.

Away! Away!

With the speed of a startled deer,

While our buoyant flight

And the rapid’s might

Heighten our swift career.”

Over the Snows

Buoyantly goes

The lumberers’ bark canoe:

Lightly they sweep,

Wilder each leap,

Tearing the white-caps through.

Away! Away!

With the speed of a startled deer,

There ’s a fearless crew

In each light canoe

To sing of the raftsmen’s cheer.