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countries far and famed have I been told,
 * And of the joys that foreign travel brings,

Of wonders, beauties one would fain behold
 * To stir the heart with fresh imaginings.

And I myself in storied Switzerland
 * Have watched the Alps in their majestic calm,

And been by jasmine-scented breezes fanned
 * In tropic isles that bear the stately palm.

And many a fabled castle on the Rhine
 * Has winged my fancy as we drifted by;

Beside the oleander and the vine
 * I've dreamed beneath the soft Italian sky.

But I have never been more deeply stirred
 * By any loveliness of land or sea

Than when upon Canadian shores I've heard
 * The lonely loon or curlew call to me

Across our own unnumbered Northern lakes,
 * And over leagues of winding water-ways

Upon whose nameless shores the aspen shakes
 * And yellows in the soft autumnal haze.