A BEAUTIFUL DAY for a boat ride, I said to Kathy. Let’s go and see the mermaid on the Canadian side. And so we set out, through the little wild islands and narrows past an eagle on its rocky perch, toward Copenhagen Island and the lady of the lake, created in the 1930’s. It had been years since we’d been there. “She reminds me of you,” I said to Kathy. And got a certain look for my trouble.

But it was grand to see the sea-maiden once again on such a fine September day, and even to find a ring-billed gull who had the same idea. A little verse took shape:

She watches over pellucid waters
Over Rainy Lake’s lovers, her sons and daughters
Friend of the loon, the wolf and the deer
Of the Northern Lights when the nights are clear
Of the stars and the moon and the rising sun
Watching wilderness fortunes lost and won
She gazes oe’r waters, both stormy and still
Across the blue ice, in winter’s deep chill
Her figure remains, buxom and bold
Keeper of secrets that will never be told
She dreams her own dreams for mystery’s sake
The beautiful mermaid of Rainy Lake.