August is Laughing Across the Sky

August is laughing across the sky,

Laughing while paddle, canoe and I,

Drift, drift,

Where the hills uplift

On either side of the current swift.

The river rolls in its rocky bed;

My paddle is plying its way ahead;

Dip, dip,

While the waters flip

In foam as over their breast we slip.

And oh, the river runs swifter now;

The eddies circle about my bow.Swirl, swirl!

How the ripples curl

In many a dangerous pool awhirl!

E. Pauline Johnson, Flint and Feather, The Song My Paddle Sings, 1912

Photo: The Grand River. (For larger image, click on photo.)

Note: Pauline Johnson, daughter of a Mohawk Chief and an English gentlewoman, grew up at Chiefswood, the family home on the Grand River near Brantford.