Late last evening I had a dream
I met John Tod on the Oak Bay Road
The weathered old ghost of a Hudson's Bay Trader
With lop-sided grin and old tattered cloths I tried to imagine the span of a lifetime
As riddled with peril or molded by change
He could recall with childlike amusement
The youthful adventures of his former days He'd left his home on the Vale of Leven
Left Stornawa' on the Edward & Ann
He crossed the great ocean in 1811
Through Hudson's Bay and to Rupert's Land He told how they fought the valiant Nor'Westers
Along the Saskatchewan, long, long ago
And came to this place called "New Caledonia"
A land of promise and riches untold But where are ye now, ye Hudson's Bay Brothers?
And where are ye now, my comrades of old?
W' James Murray Yale or Edward Ermatinger
We lived with the Cayuse & Carriers bold It's hard imagine the span of a lifetime
As riddled with peril or molded by change
Yet he would recall in fondest reflection
The youthful adventures of his former days And as my dream ends, I turned to look back
And see the procession advance down the road
Twenty-eight carriages all draped in black
As the world bids adieu to old John Tod | 
