Danielle ... Lady of the North

So, I searched high and low for this poem in the house - going through 3 old boxes full of ... old memories ... pretty much thinking I lost this ... Then, today, I got the urge to clean out my laundry room - so I went through a couple of tubs in there - and guess what was the bottom .... my poem!! So, I painstakingly typed it out to make a lovely Tuesday evening post :) It's a long poem .. but beautiful!

Danielle, Lady of the North

A Trapper of the North was Duncan McKen.
He always would be and always had been.
The spent all his summer sin Fort Rae,
But winter camp was up Coppermine way.
Not an Indian, nor Eskimeux traveled his path,
For a man in the Barrens quickly went daft.
Duncan many the time came so close,
To becoming one of the Barrens’ ghosts.
He saved many the man, deep tan and white.
Traders and pole he brought from the blight.
He was well liked and always brought a smile.
For he’d find his man no matter the miles.
One man he saved was the law in town.
Finding Inspector Dixon about to go down.
Lost his canoe, his feet all blistered,
Duncan carried him back, then married his sister.
Her name was Danielle with mahogany hair,
Dark liquid eyes and skin so fair.
She looked out of place in the cold Waste.
But this Lady’s home could be no other place.
Now petite Danielle was the belle of the North,
And she followed her love from that day forth.
Whether it was safe or never too kind,
Including the blight of the Coppermine.
Blizzards and frostbit with falls and peaks,
Even though starvation made them weak.
Duncan would laugh as the tent walls blew,
For with each passing day Danielle’s grace grew.
For over siz years together they sought,
The fox and caribou their hides to be caught.
The one day so like all the rest,
The strength of their love was put to test.
Duncan did not come back to the camp.
She waited with the fire to hear his tramp.
She kept the warmth going for in that Land,
Heat was s treasure to keep at hand.
Finally, without so much as a moan,
She packed some gear and started to roam.
Two days she waited for his arms again,
Now she would find Duncan McKen.
She had learned much over the years,
She used it now to empty her fears.
She traveled downriver to the first of his traps,
And then to the others by following the map.
At each one she discovered the same,
Each one was open and empty of game.
For houses she searched going so far,
As above large clouds swallowed the stars.
The winds picked up and Danielle knew,
The storm of the year was just about due.
Yet she could not give up on her Love,
For he was all she could think of.
She had to follow the clueless road,
Yet no longer could carry the heavy old.
A boulder by a bed, a place to store,
All the gear except what she wore.
Poorly equipped to deal with the storm,
Wrapping tighter trying to keep warm.
The snow blew in from every which way,
Oh, what she’d for the lost sun’s rays!
Nothing to see, in that land so unkind.
So followed the ice on Coppermine.

How long she walked even she couldn’t say,
Might have been houses. Might have been days
May times she stumbled down to her knees,
But Danielle always stood up never to freeze.
How the next happened will never been known,
By chance? Or maybe a sound being blown?
The Lady of the North stopped in her tracks,
Looked to the West, across the ice cracks.
Duncan was on the far bank so she thought.
She eyed the wife River, frozen yet not
Few ever survived the Coppermine’s Test.
North, Bloody Falls, Dismal Lake to the West
She stepped on the ice, all seemed fine
But for her life and Duncan’s she took her time
The shore she just left was not out of sight
When a loud crack brought on new fright
She lay out flat and crawled on slow,
Spreading her small wright by staying low.
To ice not smooth, but through her mitts
No normal woman could keep her wits
The River was wife and her sight impaired,
The Blizzard blowing still as if it didn’t care
She prayed for direction, she prayed for pain
For hurt meant she lived, in the Land of Cain.
She struggled ahead an inch here and there
Her furs in strips, yet she no longer cared.
The shore came without any warming
She could barely stand, she knew things were dire
Danielle look around, she need a fire
This far up the River not a tree could be found
Yet not far away was a snow covered mound
She slowly limped to it and pushed aside snow,
Her spirits shattered, never more low
Frozen hands fug deep and hit something hard
She pulled out a stick with fingers so scarred
Duncan’s cache of wood left last spring!
She now had new hope on which to cling.
Fumbling the flint with hands unable to move
A fire soon going yet unable to soothe
As Danielle’s body began to thaw out,
Her husband was all she could think about
She starting to sing to cover her pain,
She hurt outside but the inner, the main
Of undying love she sang of her woe
Not far away a hand reached through the snow

She screamed in fright, followed by glee,
She scared as she dug, down on her knee
There Duncan was with eyes frozen tight,
White was the snow, but a wonderful sight
His pack beside him with all his gear
He barely stirred and she quashed her fear
She pulled him out and his leg made her gasp
A deep axe cut within his frozen clasp
Danielle peeled his stiff fingers off the wound.
Cold prevented blood loss yet she swooned.
The bone was cut, no way would he walk
A bandage and splint, no longer she balked
She pulled out his blankets, the fire she stirred
Crawled in with him dressed in new furs
When he could open his eyes, he saw his wife
She fed him broth and kep him warm
They spoke of how they survived the storm
Yet little food left, and Duncan still weak
He couldn’t stand, thing looked bleak
But Danielle would not give up after so much
That lovely lady had God’s Own touch
Wrapped him blankets, keeping him dry
She took out his ropes, refusing to die
That petite girl, determined, with a smile
Dragged her true love across forty miles
Once back at their tents, Fate let them be
Two cycles of the moon, the Sun now free
Inspector Dixon came to call early that Spring,
Duncan would stand but no other thing
Her brother was worried, Danielle relieved
Help had arrived, The McKen’s still breathed

Duncan’s adventures were all well known tales
Every other in the North seems to pale
Excitement followed him during his life
But most thrilling of all was Danielle, his wife
Duncan died in the summer of twenty eight
And one day later, Danielle was laid in state
But heroes done die, they always remain
The Barrens is still every man’s Bane
It all started that winder with Young Grady
Close to death he was helped by a pale lady
And many Arctic travelers since that time,
come back thanking the Lady of Coppermine.

RR - JR
Jan 20/96