English

PROLOGUE

I AM the Juggernaut
Crushing beneath my wheel
All that is finest wrought;
Iron and wood and steel
Shatter and writhe and reel,
Yielding before my greed —
I am the Lust for Speed!

What do I care for cries,
What unto me are throes,
What do I reck who dies —
I am the will of those,
Who from the phalanx rose,
Captains of business need —
I am the Lust for Speed!

Lo! I must make my way
O'er the vast Continent,
I must hold Time at bay,
Rush till the rails be rent

Love-born, the child in grace and strength immortal
Increased with years for service of her time;
She came each day to some new wonder-portal,
Thresholds of life and thoughts of things sublime.
Through all the silence of her soul was ringing
The song of life the heart of God was singing.

The stream into the ocean flows unceasing;
All things are greater for renewing strife;
True wealth is spending, using is increasing,

Blue Athabasca,
Splendours of evening
Lie on thy waters.

There is my dream-ship
Crowned by the sunlight
Flung o'er the mountains.

There my dream-laughter
Stands in the sunset
Breathing her gladness.

Hair glory-flowing,
Eyes of deep joyance,
Smile like the sunrise

Queen of my dream-ship
Trimmed for the northlands,
Prow to the Arctic.

Blue Athabasca,
Clearest of waters,
Woo the aurora.

On to the Arctic,
On to the ramparts
Of the Mackenzie.

O Love, more deep and vast than the wide sky,
Here in thine arms close held, I trembling lie,

And drink the dews of Paradise again
When Love no more is loneliness and pain,

But all the bliss of vision touched with flame
Speaks in my soul thine everlasting name!

Not in you heavens I stand, but at thy side
Wenonah mine, my beautiful, my bride!

Long moons ago I loved thee in the west
And hovered near thee in thy woodland rest;

Then long I lost the joy-gleam of that face
Which makes thee far the loveliest of thy race.

In wild despair of reaching thee, I ran
To earth and took the godlike form of man.

Behold I speak to thee and, trembling much,
That gentle hand of thine, I softly touch:

Then slowly turn and lo! those glorious eyes

Star of my love, beneath thine emerald light,
With steadfast hope and trust, I kneel to-night.

Before thy heavens, Light of my life, I bow;
For I am lone and vigilant as thou.

The fairest day is drear and dark to me.
A constant moan, uncomforted by thee;

But when I find thy deep-rayed tent of light
So pure, so far, more lonely is the night.

No dusky brave's most eloquent desire
Could move my will or set my soul afire;

I turn me home to where my heavens are,
And find thee there, my radiant hero star.

Eve's purple dust sinks to its golden urn
Where in the west, the sun's red banners burn.

The wigwam's smoke that warms the pillared air
Mounts in a shaft to greet the sunset glare;

Soon, on the night is lifted high, afar,
Serene, intense, one iridescent star;

And in the dark is heard a maiden's prayer; —
The heart of Love is listening everywhere.

In the northern skies clear-shining,
Once, a star with emerald-gleam
Loved a chieftain's peerless daughter
By the great north-flowing stream.

Hair of ruby dipt in darkness
Blent with sunrise as with fire;
Eyes elate with love's young glory,
Deep with light of love's desire.

Cheek of nut-brown shadow glinted
With a blush of crimson glow;
Form elusive, spirit daring
As an arrow from the bow.

And the north land loved this daughter
Of the fragrant forest-wild,

The waters reach, in the white north land,
Stream arms to a thousand plains;
The sheer banks stand
With stern command
To keep a course to the lonely strand
Where beauty in silence reigns.

Athabasca gleams like a thread of light
Dropt lazily 'twixt her walls.
The moon by night
Builds a bridge of white
Where elfins dance on the ripples bright
And the lure of the northland calls.

The river blends, in a movement vast,
Great floods from the hills afar;
The plains all past,

Where, ever, the blue waters drift to the silent deeps of that ocean
That rolls 'neath the star
Where Michabo dwells on an ice-floe immense and ever in motion,
Alone and afar,

Lest, touching the earth, he should scorch and consume it with flame of his burning,
The fire of his feet,
Overwhelming the warrior brave on the trail of the hunter returning,
With whirlwinds of heat;

A rock once stood, abrupt by the river, assuming the fashion,
In mute self-control,
Of an angel's reverent form, with deep, subdued passion,