Addressing an older aristocratic woman as “Silver-haired Marquise,” the speaker imagines her uprooted from France and set down in rugged early Canada. The word “transplanted” suggests both sympathy and a touch of amusement: she is like a delicate flower moved into untamed soil. “Wild New France” sharpens that contrast, placing her refined, powdered world against forests, cold, and hardship. The brevity creates a quiet snapshot. There is loneliness in it, but also gentle wonder at how strange that displacement must have felt. The mood is wistful and slightly ironic, holding elegance and wilderness together in a single breath.
Twelve Hokku on a Canadian Theme 4 — Summary
Silver-haired Marquise! You were transplanted, one Spring, Into wild New France.