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The Rivers of Canada

by Bliss Carman

1 O all the little rivers that run to Hudson's Bay,
2 They call me and call me to follow them away.

3 Missinaibi, Abitibi, Little Current--where they run
4 Dancing and sparkling I see them in the sun.

5 I hear the brawling rapid, the thunder of the fall,
6 And when I think upon them I cannot stay at all.

7 At the far end of the carry, where the wilderness begins,
8 Set me down with my canoe-load--and forgiveness of my sins.

9 O all the mighty rivers beneath the Polar Star,
10 They call me and call me to follow them afar.

11 Peace and Athabasca and Coppermine and Slave,
12 And Yukon and Mackenzie--the highroads of the brave.

13 Saskatchewan, Assiniboine, the Bow and the Qu'Appelle,
14 And many a prairie river whose name is like a spell.

15 They rumor through the twilight at the edge of the unknown,
16 "There's a message waiting for you, and a kingdom all your own.

17 "The wilderness shall feed you, her gleam shall be your guide.
18 Come out from desolations, our path of hope is wide."

19 O all the headlong rivers that hurry to the West,
20 They call me and lure me with the joy of their unrest.

21 Columbia and Fraser and Bear and Kootenay,
22 I love their fearless reaches where winds untarnished play--

23 The rush of glacial water across the pebbly bar
24 To polished pools of azure where the hidden boulders are.

25 Just there, with heaven smiling, any morning I would be,
26 Where all the silver rivers go racing to the sea.

27 O well remembered rivers that sing of long ago,
28 Ajourneying through summer or dreaming under snow.

29 Among their meadow islands through placid days they glide,
30 And where the peaceful orchards are diked against the tide.

31 Tobique and Madawaska and shining Gaspereaux,
32 St. Croix and Nashwaak and St. John whose haunts I used to know.

33 And all the pleasant rivers that seek the Fundy foam,
34 They call me and call me to follow them home.

NOTES

Composition Date:: Unknown.
Form:: couplets.
1.: Hudson's Bay: inland sea jutting into northeastern Canada and joined to the Arctic Ocean and the north Atlantic.
3.: Missinaibi: Ontario river flowing north into Moose Lake and James Bay.; Abitibi: river from Abitibi Lake to James Bay in northern Ontario.; Little Current: northern Ontario river running into Albany River that drains into James Bay.
11.: Peace: a tributary of the Mackenzie River flowing from Williston Lake, British Columbia, through the Rockies and northern Alberta into the Slave River.; Athabasca: river flowing from the Columbia icefield into Lake Athabaska.; Coppermine: river flowing from Lac de Gras in the North West Territories to the Arctic Ocean.; Slave: river flowing from the Peace River into Great Slave Lake.
12.: Yukon: river flowing from northern British Columbia into Alaska and the Bering Sea.; Mackenzie: North America's second longest river, flowing from Great Slave Lake north to the Beaufort Sea.
13.: Saskatchewan: river that drains much of the Canadian prairies and flowing from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, to Cedar Lake, Manitoba.; Assiniboine: river flowing across Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the Red River in Winnipeg.; Bow: river flowing from Bow Lake in Banff National Park into the Oldman River at Calgary, Alberta.; Qu'Appelle: northern Saskatchewan river, named ("who calls?") after a Cree legend of a youth who heard a voice call his name and later discovered it was that of his bride-to-be at the moment of her death.
21.: Columbia: river flowing from Columbia Lake in British Columbia to Portland, Oregon, and the Pacific.; Fraser: river flowing from Jasper National Park in the Rockies to the Strait of Georgia on the Pacific.; Bear: which river Carman has in mind here is not clear.; Kootenay: southwestern British Columbia river, flowing from the Rockies south and draining in the Columbia River.
31.: Tobique: river in New Brunswick running into the St. John River.; Madawaska: northern Maine river running into the St. John River in New Brunswick.; Gaspereaux: unidentified.
32.: St. Croix: this river runs along the border between Maine and New Brunswick.; Naskwaak: New Brunswick river flowing into the St. John River.; St. John: this river flows from Maine to the Madawaska River at Edmundston, New Brunswick, and then south to Saint John and into the Bay of Fundy.
33.: Fundy: Bay of Fundy, off Nova Scotia, and the source of some of the highest tides in the world.