  (Read at the unveiling of the Monument erected in the Parliament Grounds at Ottawa to the Memory of the Rt. Hon. Sir John A. Macdonald.) Here, in the solemn shadow of these walls, Wherein his voice long held the land in sway; Here, where the cadence of the distant falls Seems a lament for grandeur passed away, We, who have reaped where he had sown, now bring To him this thanksgiving, This tribute to the unforgotten great, That, for all time, men may revere his name, And children learn the secret of true fame, True greatness emulate. We paid long since the tribute of our tears, When, at his post, the veteran statesman died; But now that grief has been assuaged by years, We mourn not, but rejoice, with sober pride, That one of earth’s immortals, wise and strong, Dwelt in our midst so long, Teaching large thoughts and love of liberty, And, Atlas-like, upon his shoulders bore Our world of care, until, life’s turmoil o’er, He passed from us away. He found the seven sisters of the North, The Sea-Queen’s daughters, in primeval woods, By lonely streams, lamenting, and them forth He led from desert lands and solitudes. The Pleiades of nations, they have shone Upon Britannia’s throne; With every passing year, their golden light Waxing in lustre, until every land In wonder looks upon the glorious band That breaks the Northern night. He walked through life triumphant. Fortune’s son, What were to others barriers, were to him But gates, through which his high success was won. He held strange spirit commune with the dim Shapes of the future. His far-reaching mind Some harmony did find In elements discordant; and man’s strength And weakness served with him the noble end To build a nation and all factions blend In brotherhood, at length. And shall we, in whose midst so long he dwelt, Who had commune so long with his great mind, Forsake his teachings, and, like Israel, melt Our gold to rear false gods! Shall we grow blind To those large thoughts, that tolerance which long Made this Dominion strong? Nay, never so! He left an heritage Worthy himself and us; be ours the pride To bind this new Dominion, rich and wide Closer from age to age. |
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