"Chiefswood" erected in 1853 Home of Pauline Johnson

 

THE IDLERS

 

The sun's red pulses beat,

Full prodigal of heat,

Full lavish of its lustre unrepressed;

But we have drifted far

From where his kisses are,

And in this landward-lying shade we let our paddles rest.

 

The river, deep and still,

The maple-mantled hill,

The little yellow beach whereon we lie,

The puffs of heated breeze,

All sweetly whisper~ These

Are days that only come in a Canadian July.

 

So, silently we two

Lounge in our still canoe,

Nor fate, nor fortune matters to us now"

So long as we alone

May call this dream our own,

The breeze may die, the sail may droop, we care

not when or how.

 

 

~ E. Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake), 1861-1913, Flint and Feather, 1912.