OH, to be in Canada now that Spring is merry,
Happy apple blossoms gay against the smiling green;
Here the lilac's purple plume and here the pink of cherry,
Hillsides just a drift of bloom with clover in between!
Oh, to be in Canada! there's a road that rambles
Through a leafing maple-wood and up a windy hill,
Velvet pussy-willows press soft hands amid the brambles
Fringing round a sky-filled pool where cattle drink their fill.
Oh, to be in Canada! there's a farmhouse hidden
Where the hollow meets the hill and Spring's first footsteps show —
Not a drop of honey there to any bee forbidden,
Not a cherry on a tree but all the robins know!
Oh, to be in Canada, now that Spring is calling
Sweet, so sweet it breaks the heart to let its sweetness through,
Oh, to breast the windy hill while yet the dew is falling —
Waking all the meadow-larks to carol in the blue!
Smile upon us, Canada! None shall fail who love you
While they hold a memory of your fields where flowers are —
High the task to keep unstained the skies that bend above you,
Proud the life that shields you from the flaming wind of war!