Canada Day Poem
A salutation
Lying between coast to coast to coast,
is a country called Canada.
We often call it far flung and freezing cold.
I say to you--
If ever there was a heaven on earth, it is here.
Where else do we get to live in the land of Anne of Green Gables,
but in our very own Maritime provinces?
Where can we set foot on the land of the Vikings, other than here?
Where in this wide world,
do we get to smell a Mayflower, a lily or a trillium,
bathe in the aura of the purple violet and Lady’s slipper?
hear the thunderous roar of Niagara
surrounded by glistening Great Lakes,
then, be hypnotized by the still silence
of the far flung Haida Gwaii islands?
We go all the way to Manitoba,
to watch polar bears at play?
Is there any other Polar Bear capital in the world?
When Life becomes a drudgery of routine,
we escape to the vast Land of living skies,
are bewitched by the lingering sunset of the prairies,
as we eat bison burgers and savour Saskatoon berries.
When the Muse calls on us,
we grasp our easel and palette
and trudge all the way to the Bay of Fundy,
trying to capture the lighthouses dotting it.
When life becomes a bit edgy , Quebec beckons us to Old Montreal,
where we trudge on cobblestone streets and walk down memory lane.
We often dream of going to the Maritimes,
just to dance to the sound of bagpipes .
Another time, we travel to Wild Rose country
to watch the Calgary Stampede.
Sometimes, we want to fly ever so high,
to watch the Northern Lights ,
their swirling green lights like the rustling wings of a giant fairy,
at other times, we become hikers trekking to the rugged Rockies
to finally land in Beautiful British Columbia—
beauty is the very breath of Life.
Our dream ends—on terra firma,
on Nature’s playground, we call Nanaimo.
Let us come together--
Let us raise a glass of Okanagan wine
to this great Land – Our Canada.