"God spake the third time when the great world smiled, And in the sunshine slew his little child; Van Elsen like a tree Fell hopelessly.
"Then in the darkness came a Voice which said: 'As thy heart bleedeth, so My heart hath bled; As I have need of thee Thou needest Me.'
"That night Van Elsen kissed the baby feet, And kneeling by the narrow winding-sheet, Praised Him with fervent breath Who conquered death."
Canon Scott, who may well be recognised as the most spiritual of Canadian poets, has published five volumes of poems, _The Soul's Quest_, _My Lattice and Other Poems_, _The Unnamed Lake_, _Poems Old and New_, and _In the Battle Silences, Poems Written at the Front_. There is a depth of thought, an { 263} appealing grace and tenderness of feeling in his work that insures his poems a treasured place in Canadian life.
Duncan Campbell Scott has the fascination of the spontaneous singer, and how all the entrancement of the Dominion is caught into these lines:
"Oh, Land of the dusky balsam, And the darling maple-tree, Where the cedar buds and berries, And the pine grows strong and free! My heart is weary and weary For my own country."
Something in this song recalls, like remembered music, Katherine Tynan's (Mrs. Hinkson) haunting poem, _Homesick_, of which two lines run:
"But my heart flies back to an Abbey gray Where the dead sleep sweet, and the living pray."
The professional critic could find many poems of Mr. Scott's with intrinsically greater claim than this lovely little chanson, _To B. W. B._ (now Mrs. Duncan Campbell Scott), but something in the lilting cadence enchains the reader:
"The world is spinning for change And life has rapid wings; Oh, one needs a steady heart Not to falter while he sings.
"But this is made for my Dear One When we are far apart, That she may have, wherever she goes A song of mine in her heart.
"A song that will serve as an anchor, Compass, and pilot, and chart, A song that will bid her remember That Love is the crown of Art.
"With a star from her open window When the cuckoo wakes with a start: Oh, can she ever forget me With a song of mine in her heart?"
In _The Voice and the Dusk_ what a play of colour:
"The slender moon and one pale star, A rose leaf and a silver bee From some god's garden blown afar, Go down the gold deep tranquilly.