Once ye were happy, once by many a shore, <br />Wherever Glooscap's gentle feet might stray, <br />Lulled by his presence like a dream, ye lay <br />Floating at rest; but that was long of yore. <br />He was too good for earthly men; he bore <br />Their bitter deeds for many a patient day, <br />And then at last he took his unseen way. <br />He was your friend, and ye might rest no more: <br /> <br />And now, though many hundred altering years <br />Have passed, among the desolate northern meres <br />Still must ye search and wander querulously, <br />Crying for Glooscap, still bemoan the light <br />With weird entreaties, and in agony <br />With awful laughter pierce the lonely night.<br /><br />Archibald Lampman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-loons/
