VERSES
OF
FEELING AND FANCY
BY
Wm. M. MacKeracher
MONTREAL:
W. DRYSDALE & CO.,
PUBLISHERS AND BOOKSELLERS.
Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada in the year of OurLord one thousand eight hundred and ninety by Wm. Drysdale & Co., inthe office of the Minister of Agriculture.
DEDICATED
TO
MY FATHER.
Motive
Worthless, the man who works—he knows not why,
Whom naught inspires to his puny plan,
Who seeming plays his part instinctively:
Soulless, and falsely designated "man."
Wicked, who works from wish of worldly gain,—
His soul surrendered to th'accursèd lust
Of pleasure partial, briefly to remain,
Of treasure liable to moth and rust.
Foolish and vain is he whose motive—fame,
Ruled by desire of honor and renown;
And fondly courting Fortune's fickle Dame,—
To-day she smiles, to-morrow she will frown.
But virtuous, noble, prompted from above,
Preluding now the perfect life again,
Is he, whose only inspiration, love,
Love to his God and to his fellow-men.
For love is naught but God's own nature, given,
In partial measure, down to man to come;
The sole delight of earth, the key to heaven;
Of all the virtues, centre, source, and sum.
The Old Year.
The old year is dying,
Its last hour is hieing
Over the verge;
The night winds are plying,
And are mournfully sighing
Its funeral dirge.
And now, in its even,
While its spirit is riven
Through the bright zone,
Beyond the heaven
To whence it was given—
To the unknown.
Its sadness in ending
Like a cloud is descending
Over my soul,
And the thoughts that are pending
With the low winds are blending,
Helping their dole.
A year of existence
Has passed to the distance
Ne'er to return:
To the right was resistance,
From duty desistance,
Nor would I learn.
But duty neglected
And virtue rejected
We may amend;
Then why be dejected?—
So sorely affected?
Whence does it tend?
Is it that pleasure
In liberal measure
I have not known?
Ah! rapturous pleasure
In memory I treasure,
But—it is flown.
Opportunity wasted,
Though far we have passed it,
We may retrieve;
But beakers once tasted
Of bliss while they lasted
Bitterness leave.
A Summer Evening Scene in Chateauguay
WRITTEN IN MONTREAL.
Often, when the sun is sinking
O'er the mountain's glowing crest,
When the earth and heaven are linking
In that bond of peaceful rest;
Then, the weary city spurning,
On this grand repose I gaze,
And my mind, in fancy turning,
Dwells on scenes of chi