Robert Kirkland Kernighan Poems

There 's an old, old quilt a dear old quilt
A warm old quilt, at home,
As near and dear to my heart to-day
As when I began to roam ;
...

We 're aich a descindint
Av the great an resplindint
The bowld, indepindint,
...

Where lilac trees are gossiping,
And whispering tell-tales to the breeze,
The sweet peas now are clambering
Across the old stump fence's knees.
...

The very birds sing soft and low,
And noiseless nod the lilac trees;
The spring time breezes lighter blow,
Soft hum the sympathetic bees;
The very clouds, up in the sky,
...

Burning blush eternal !
It was in my youthful days,
That I drunk of the cup infernal
Till my brain was in a craze !
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' So this is your birthday, Canuck darling,
Jeroosalem ! but you 're mighty sweet ;
Darn my skin ! you 're a reglar daisy,
Plumb from your head clean down to yer feet.
...

From ocean unto ocean our noble land is fair,
A hundred million freemen's homes await their owners
there.
Then fling the tidings broadcast, the striving world among,
Till those who kneel to despots are to independence stung ;
...

It washed the faint and anxious grasses,
Through all this splendid latitude ;
And trees, and flowers and ferns in masses
Sent up a hymn of gratitude.
...

I never was there ; but I Ve heard them declare
That, away over where the shamrocks are seen,
There 's beautiful isle, where it 's well worth your while
To see how the sile grows the freshest of green.
...

' Ya-Honk! ' Up north out on a bay
The rocking flock of wild geese lay,
The gander swimming round them all,
His voice 'Ya-honk! Ya-honk! ' let fall.
...