Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Americas: Vol. XXX. 1876–79.

British America: St. Lawrence (Cadaraqui), the River

St. Lawrence River

By Clara Moreton Moore

DOWN, down we glide these “Thousand Isles” between,

Lovely as fairy-land to dreaming child,

Sweeping past shores now fringed with verdure green,

Now clasped by rocks and tangled forests wild.

Anon, like arrow from an aim that ’s true,

We dart adown the rapids’ fearful whirl,

The rough “Cascades,” the less exciting “Sue,”

Where round the rocks the foaming waters curl.

And so the day glides on. At eve we near

The wild “La Chine,” peril on every side;

Our hearts stand still, our cheeks grow pale with fear;

One plunge: the brave boat safely through doth ride

On where the purple hills so grandly loom,

All heedless now of twilight’s gathering gloom!