Lyr. Add: RIEL'S SONG (to Henriette)
(attrib. Louis Riel)

Quand je partis ma chè Henriette,
Tu n'avais pas encore quinze ans.
Ma soeur, tu n'étais que fillette
Aux premiers jours du doux printemps.
Après mes travaux politiques
Vu malheurs du Canada
Je suis venu vous voir en groupe
Chez mon ami Normand Gingras.

Ma soeur tu viens faire ta visite
Au commencement du mois d'août;
En te voyant, mon coeur palpite,
O ma soeur, je t'aime beaucoup;
Reçois de moi la bienvenue
Mon coeur t'embrasse en soupirant.
Lorsque mes yeux t'ont reconnue
C'était les yeux d'un homme content.

When I left you, dear Henriette,
Not yet fifteen years old were you,
In the springtime of life, dear sister,
When I bade you a fond adieu.
Now that the fighting is all over,
In this unhappy Canada,
I've come to see you and all my dear ones
At the home of my friend, Gingras.

Here we are now, my little sister,
On this lovely August day:
Oh, how happy I am to see you;
I love you more than I can say.
With all my heart I bid you welcome;
Oh, let me hold you close to my breast.
Now that we are once more together,
How contented my heart doth rest.

Edith Fowke, Alan Mills, Helmut Blume. n. d., "Canada's Story in Song," p. 124-126, with music.
Written sometime in the 1870's, this tender little song has little in common with "Chanson de Louis Riel," written in jail as he awaited his hanging. In the book by Fowke et al., the sister's name is anglicized to Henrietta.
Another song by Riel, written on the death of his father in 1863, is quoted in a biography by W. M. Davidson. His "La Métisse" (Métis Maiden) is quoted in thread 92837: La Metisse

Other poems:

Riel, Louis David, 1886, Poesies, Religieuses et Politiques. Reprint- Les Editions Des Plains, 1979.

(Riel, Louis), [Incomplete reference- Editor?] N. D., The Selected Poetry of Louis Riel, 151pp., distrib. in U. S. by General Publishing, 1993. Quarto.

Glen Campbell, "Survey of Louis Riel's Poetry," in Lussier, A. S., 1988, Louis Riel and the Métis, Pemmican Publications, Winnepeg.

I understand a few other songs by Riel are preserved in various archives.