A Dappled Canada Day for You...
This Canada Day
I’m indeed showing you a maple tree…
But this Southern Red Maple tree
Lives in East Texas…
Proving that peace and love
Have no boundaries.
Remember Phoebe,
My university bestie?
Well a few years ago
She and I went to our 50th reunion
In San Antonio, Texas.
While there I got to meet
Phoebe’s sibs for the first time:
Allen, Sally, and Lolly.
Of course they are joys to know…
After all they spring
From the same parents
From whom Peter’s dad and I
Bought a 1956 Chrysler
With air conditioning, power windows,
And a semi-hemi V8 engine.
But that’s another story.
Today I want to talk
To you about Sally
And about this dappled light
That she sent me.
I’ve always been drawn
To the insistent summer
Expressions of dapple.
I even wrote an early poem
That features some dappling.
In the summertime we can rejoice
In the longer days
Even when we swelter.
Winter dappling is
Also another story.
Summertime heat
Pulls us to shaded respite…
And if we’re lucky enough
To have a shaded path
We can even wander and
Wonder at the delights of light…
How it plays and moves
With the breezes.
Light wafts, too,
Don’t you know.
Such a path leads Sally
To her mailbox each day.
About 5 years ago
Sally began posting images
To remind herself…
And, by extension, the rest of us…
Just how fortunate we are
To have so many examples
Of cheerful good things
That can lighten our hearts
And bring us peace and calm…
If we’re only willing to look.
And Sally looks each and every day.
These Maple leaves mark
Sally’s Peace Day 1750.
Sally also makes peace cranes…
A habit since 1989.
I am the lucky recipient
Of a set of these
Origami offerings for hope.
They hang in front of a mirror
That rejoices in multiplying
Their colourful intent
As my daily reminder
For my own peace
And calm
And love.
...
Here's a Canada Day version, just fo fun—with fond memories of Don Watt:
...
If this isn't nice, what is?
~ Kurt Vonnegut, of course
