The Half-Breed Girl

She is free of the trap and the paddle,     The portage and the trail,

But something behind her savage life     Shines like a fragile veil.

Her dreams are undiscovered,     Shadows trouble her breast,

When the time for resting cometh     Then least is she at rest.

Oft in the morns of winter,    When she visits the rabbit snares,

An appearance floats in the crystal air    Beyond the balsam firs.

Oft in the summer mornings    When she strips the nets of fish,

The smell of the dripping net-twine    Gives to her heart a wish.

But she cannot learn the meaning    Of the shadows in her soul,

The lights that break and gather,    The clouds that part and roll,

The reek of rock-built cities,    Where her fathers dwelt of yore,

The gleam of loch and shealing,    The mist on the moor,

Frail traces of kindred kindness,    Of feud by hill and strand,

The heritage of an age-long life    In a legendary land.

She wakes in the stifling wigwam,    Where the air is heavy and wild,

She fears for something or nothing    With the heart of a frightened child.

She sees the stars turn slowly    Past the tangle of the poles,

Through the smoke of the dying embers,    Like the eyes of dead souls.

Her heart is shaken with longing    For the strange, still years,

For what she knows and knows not,    For the wells of ancient tears.

A voice calls from the rapids,    Deep, careless and free,

A voice that is larger than her life    Or than her death shall be.

She covers her face with her blanket,    Her fierce soul hates her breath,

As it cries with a sudden passion    For life or death.

Composition date is unknown - the above date represents the first publication date.

The lyrical form of this poem is abcb.2. portage: the carrying of a canoe across land from one lake or river to another.23. loch: lake (Scottish). shealing: sheiling, pasture.29. wigwam: native hut made of wood poles, rushes, bark, hides, etc.