This text comes from Songs of French Canada, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.
Two men-at-arms came riding slowly
Adown the green path, smooth and clear,
One held the rank of sergeant lowly,
The other that of brigadier.
The brigadier cried, "Brave Pandore,
The weather's fine—no sign of rain."
"Brigadier," laughing cried Pandore,
"Brigadier, right you are again!"
"It is no easy matter, surely,
To guard the peasant in his cot,
To hold the cities so securely
That thieves break in and plunder not;
And yet the wife whom I adore,
In safety dwells where Love doth reign."
"Brigadier," laughing cried Pandore,
"Brigadier, right you are again!"
"For Glory's wreath of fairest flowers
With rose and laurel intertwined,
For Love and War, immortal powers,
I live—and cast the rest behind.
The power that Jason led of yore
I chase, and trust the prize to gain."
Brigadier," laughing cried Pandore,
"Brigadier, right you are again!"
"It brings bright days of youth before me;
That Past now gone beyond recall:
When Beauty flung her fetters o'er me,
I came submissive to her call.
And yet—the heart breaks o'er and o'er
The strongest links of Cupid's chain."
"Brigadier," laughing cried Pandore,
"Brigadier, right you are again!"
As Phœbus hid his glories under
The golden clouds that veil the west,
Our hero with his voice of thunder
Still broke the evening's quiet rest.
"Farewell!" he cried, "on distant shore
Your light will gild both hill and plain."
"Brigadier," laughing cried Pandore,
"Brigadier, right you are again!"
He ceased—and now their horses' tramping
Fell softly on the yielding ground,
And save their iron bridles' champing,
They passed along and made no sound;
But when Aurora smiled once more
One still might hear the faint refrain—
"Brigadier," laughing cried Pandore,
"Brigadier, right you are again!