THE OLD CANOE — poem by George Marsh

 

THE OLD CANOE

My seams gape wide, so I'm tossed aside
To rot on a lonely shore
While the leaves and mould like a shroud enfold.
For the last of my trails are o'er;
But I float in dreams on Northland streams
That never again I'll see.
As I lie on the marge of the old portage
With grief for company.

When the sunset gilds the timbered hills
That guard Timagami,
And the moonbeams play on far James Bay
By the brink of the frozen sea.
In phantom guise my spirit flies
As the dream-blades dip and swing
Where the waters flow from the Long Ago
In the spell of the beck'ning spring.

Do the cow-moose call on the Montreal
When the first frost bites the air.
And the mists unfold from the red and gold
That the autumn ridges wear?
When the white falls roar as they did of yore
On the Lady Evelyn,
Do the square-tail leap from the black pools deep
Where the pictured rocks begin?

Oh! the fur-fleets sing on Timiskaming
As the ashen paddles bend.
And the crews carouse at Rupert House
At the sullen winter's end;
But my days are done where the lean wolves run
And I ripple no more the path
Where the gray geese race 'cross the red moon's face
From the white wind's Arctic wrath.

Tho' the death-fraught way from the Saguenay
To the storied Nipigon
Once knew me well, now a crumbling shell
I watch the years roll on.
While in memory's haze I live the days
That forever are gone from me.
As I rot on the marge of the old portage
With grief for company.

— George Marsh.

Published Scribners, October 1908

Laprairie voyageur canoes index Mar. 2020 — Feb. 2025

 

"On the Kaministiquoia River" - William Armstrong (1822-1914)

THE VOYAGEURS, poem by George T. Marsh

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2025/02/the-voyageurs-by-george-t-marsh.html

SEVEN GENERATIONS OF LA PRAIRIE (QUE) VOYAGEUR ANCESTORS

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2024/05/seven-generations-of-la-prairie-que.html

Sir Alexander Mackenzie, Scottish fur trader and explorer, was my 7th cousin

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2021/03/sir-alexander-mackenzie-scottish-fur.html

Holy Smoke! Maybe Our Voyageur Ancestors Were Actually Vikings

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2021/03/holy-cow-maybe-our-voyageur-ancestors.html

The Lament of Jean Cadieux

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-lament-of-jean-cadieux.html

Uncle Antoine, voyageur for René-Robert Cavelier, Lord of La Salle

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/11/uncle-antoine-voyageur-for-rene-robert.html

A Glimpse in Time - Fort Frontenac, 7 September 1677

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/10/aglimpse-in-time-fort-frontenac-7.html

Living with a 'Fur Trade' Collection -- my artistic and emotional connection to the past

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/10/living-with-fur-trade-collection-my.html

Missouri means “canoe,” so named for the Indians who are called the “peoples of the canoes.”

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/09/missouri-means-canoe-so-named-for.html

Peter Pond, Connecticut Yankee, Nor'Wester Founder, and Cartographer

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/08/peter-pond-connecticut-yankee-norwester.html

Index of Fur Trade Related Tales from ‘A Drifting Cowboy Blog’

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/08/index-of-fur-trade-related-tales-from.html

ADVENTURERS IN THE NEW WORLD: THE SAGA OF THE COUREURS DES BOIS - REVIEW

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/08/adventurers-in-new-world-saga-of.html

My Newly Acquired Short Northwest Trade Gun (Canoe Gun)

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/07/i-just-acquired-interesting-canoe-gun.html

Robidoux Family - Beaver Pelts to Buffalo Robes and Beyond

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/07/robidoux-family-beaver-pelts-to-buffalo.html

Forerunners of the Coureur Des Bois — Indian Interpreters in New France and Beyond

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/06/forerunners-of-coureur-des-bois-indian.html

Aunt Francoise Duquet married well, and her brothers benefited

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/06/aunt-francoise-duquet-married-well-and.html

UNDERSTANDING FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS IN THE FUR TRADE

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/04/understanding-family-relationships-in.html

My Pioneer Ancestors of Quebec — They Arrived Before 1637

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/03/my-pioneer-ancestors-of-quebec-they.html

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ANCESTOR AND RELATIVE

https://laprairie-voyageur-canoes.blogspot.com/2020/03/the-difference-between-ancestor-and.html