Love In A Canoe

Love down by the sea is pretty indeed

     As the breakers their passions pursue;

And the voice of the sea is a boon to love’s plea,

But love by the sea is nothing to me

     Compared with love in a canoe.

Love out in the woods is blissful enough,

     Where birds sing all the day through;

Where the scent of the pine stirs pulses like mine,

But love ‘neath the pine awakens not mine

     Like love in a cosy canoe.

Love in a canoe! The joy of all joys,

     O’er a stream that is winding and blue;

With a fair face at rest on your pulsating breast,

While you paddle and jest – O sweetest and best

     Is love in a cosy canoe.

Aug. 6, 1901

                (‘cosy’ is his spelling of ‘cozy’)