Douglas Leader Durkin
Lecturer in English in the University of Manitoba. Author of 'The Fighting Men of Canada,' a first book of virile poems received with acclaim in London, England. "Born in the Swan Lake district of Manitoba some thirty odd years ago."
THE CALL
CAME once a call on the midnight,
Rose once a cry from the sea,
'Daughter of mine in my day-pride,
Art thou still daughter to me?'
Spoke then the heart of a nation,
Clarion-voiced from the hill,
'Lo, in our day thou hast long been our stay,
Mother art thou to us still!'
Came then a murmur of voices,
Sounds of the marching of men;
Hearts that had slumbered in silence
Quickened with passion again;
Down where the rumble of traffic
Grew with the dawn of the day
Broke the stern beat of a drum in the street,
Marshalling men for the fray.
Cold-hearted stewards of credit,
Faint-hearted counters of pelf,
Leaped at the blare of the trumpet
Free from the shackles of self;
Haggling tongues on the market,
Babbling lips on the square,
Fashioned a word that the high heavens heard,
Whispered it once in a prayer.
Silent-tongued dwellers on frontiers,
Peace-loving souls on the grange,
Brawny-limbed brood of the mountains,
Weather-bronzed sons of the range,
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