MUSKOKA <br /> <br />A stream of tender gladness, <br />Of filmy sun, and opal tinted skies; <br />Of warm midsummer air that lightly lies <br />In mystic rings, <br />Where softly swings <br />The music of a thousand wings <br />That almost tones to sadness. <br /> <br />Midway 'twixt earth and heaven, <br />A bubble in the pearly air, I seem <br />To float upon the sapphire floor, a dream <br />Of clouds of snow, <br />Above, below, <br />Drift with my drifting, dim and slow, <br />As twilight drifts to even. <br /> <br />The little fern-leaf, bending <br />Upon the brink, its green reflection greets, <br />And kisses soft the shadow that it meets <br />With touch so fine, <br />The border line <br />The keenest vision can't define; <br />So perfect is the blending. <br /> <br />The far, fir trees that cover <br />The brownish hills with needles green and gold, <br />The arching elms o'erhead, vinegrown and old, <br />Repictured are <br />Beneath me far, <br />Where not a ripple moves to mar <br />Shades underneath, or over. <br /> <br />Mine is the undertone; <br />The beauty, strength, and power of the land <br />Will never stir or bend at my command; <br />But all the shade <br />Is marred or made, <br />If I but dip my paddle blade; <br />And it is mine alone. <br /> <br />O! pathless world of seeming! <br />O! pathless life of mine whose deep ideal <br />Is more my own than ever was the real. <br />For others Fame <br />And Love's red flame, <br />And yellow gold: I only claim <br />The shadows and the dreaming.<br /><br />Emily Pauline Johnson<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/shadow-river/
