LAKE VERMILLION

CYRIL PAUL

AUGUST 19, 2000

Living waters wild and rusty

Cresting wide, so deep and cold

Shimmering in the brilliant sunshine

Smooth as silk, at nights, stone cold

Quietly sleeps midst ancient tap roots

Nestled ‘tween the birch and pine

Restless ripples lap rocky shore lines

As lonely loon sings haunting rhymes.

Down below these dark brown waters

Currents churn the rusty waves

Swim the muskie and the walleye

____ her bosom, the watery grave.

Far below they glide amidst tall weeds

Where the sunbeams dare not go

Chasing tiny creatures who for safety dwell

In the murky weeds down below.

And the mighty Lake Vermillion

Forged by steel rocks centuries old

Safely guards her hidden treasures

From weary eyes that search for gold.

And somehow they heard the stories

Strangers came from far off lands

Equipped with wills of steel and tools in hand

To harvest gold their eager plan.

By ship, by mule the strangers came

To this new gateway of the North

Challenged this frozen, barren land and claimed

With skills and tools they’d bought.

On the shores of Lake Vermillion

Rusty waters spread far and wide

Harbored homes for the new arrivals

Panning for gold in her rusty tide.

Not gold but rocks of iron they found

Deep in the bowels of this virgin earth

Sweaty brows bruised and bowed down.

Raw courage rewarded a century’s worth.

Now the mills are cold and dormant

Blasts of dynamite and dust lay still

But the echo of miners footsteps

In our tales their tasks fulfill.

With their hard labor forged our cities

Created steel, tough hands which did mine

By candle light and heavy hammers pounding