Fair land of peace! - to Britain's rule and throne
Adherent still, yet happier than alone,
And free as happy, and as brave as free,
Proud are thy children - justly proud, of thee!
Thou hast no streams renowned in classic lore,
No vales where fabled heroes moved of yore,
No hills where Poesy enraptured stood,
No mythic fountains, no enchanted wood;
But unadorned, rough, cold, and often stern,
The careless eye to other lands might turn,
And seek, where Nature's bloom is more intense,
Softer delights to charm the eye of sense.
But we who know thee, proudly point the hand
Where thy broad rivers roll serenely grand -
Where, in still beauty 'neath our northern sky,
Thy lordly lakes in solemn grandeur lie, -
Where old Niagara's awful voice has given
...