(For Music.) <br /> Though Missouri'stide may majestic glide, <br /> There's a curse on the soil it laves; <br /> The Ohio, too, may be fair, but who <br /> Would sojourn in the land of slaves? <br /> Be my prouder lot a Canadian cot <br /> And the bread of a freeman's toils; <br /> Then hurrah for the land of the forests grand, <br /> And the Lake of the Thousand Isles! <br /> I would seek no wealth, at the cost of health, <br /> 'Mid the city's din and strife; <br /> More I love the grace of fair nature's face, <br /> And the calm of a woodland life; <br /> I would shun the road by ambition trod, <br /> And the lore which the heart defiles;-- <br /> Then hurrah for the land of the forests grand, <br /> And the Lake of the Thousand Isles! <br /> <br /> O away, away! I would gladly stray <br /> Where the freedom I love is found; <br /> Where the pine and oak by the woodman's stroke <br /> Are disturbed in their ancient bound; <br /> Where the gladsome swain reaps the golden grain, <br /> And the trout from the stream beguiles; <br /> Then hurrah for the land of the forests grand, <br /> And the Lake of the Thousand Isles.<br /><br />Evan MacColl<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-lake-of-the-thousand-isles/
