Well have Canadians chosen thee <br />As the emblem of their land, <br />Thou noble, spreading maple tree, <br />Lord of the forest grand; <br />Through all the changes Time has made, <br />Thy woods so deep and hoar <br />Have given their homesteads pleasant shade, <br />And beauty to their shore. <br /> <br />Say, what can match in splendor rare <br />Thy foliage, brightly green, <br />Thy leaves that wave in summer’s air, <br />Glossy as satin sheen, <br />When Spring returns the first art thou, <br />On mountain or in vale, <br />With springing life and budding bough, <br />To tell the joyous tale. <br /> <br />In Autumn’s hours of cheerless gloom, <br />How glowing is the dye <br />Of the crimson robe thou dost assume, <br />Though it only be to die; <br />Like the red men who, long years ago, <br />Reposed beneath thy shade, <br />And wore a smiling lip and brow <br />On the pyre their foes had made. <br /> <br />And e’en in Winter fair art thou, <br />With many a brilliant gem, <br />That might adorn fair lady’s brow, <br />Or deck a diadem; <br />And better than thy beauty rare, <br />Or shade thou givest free, <br />The life-stream of thy branches fair <br />Thou gen’rous, brave old tree! <br /> <br />Warmly we pray no deed of harm <br />May fright thy peaceful shade, <br />May’st thou ne’er see in war’s alarm <br />Contending foes arrayed, <br />But, smiling down on peasants brave, <br />On honest tranquil toil, <br />Thy branches ever brightly wave, <br />Above a happy soil.<br /><br />Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-maple-tree-4/
