MY CANADA
I was asked what I liked best about Canada
The country where I was conceived,
Born and received nourishment
In the BC Interior
Wilderness
I replied, TREES
My entire childhood was blessed by
These amazons of the woodland
Pendulous vegetation
Reaching high
Up to the sky
Our dad made a swing for his children
It dangled between the branches
Of a knurled old Douglas fir
That lurched
From a jungle of willow, poplar, pine
And birch.
We tore layers of crinkly white outer
Bark from the birch to write
Words and draw
Pictures
And fashion into tiny boats
To set afloat in mud-filled puddles
And ditches
We pierced the crimson inner bark

To taste the sap that dripped
From the tree’s heart
The unknowing cruelty of children
Damaging some of the most beautiful trees
I have ever known
Aspen and balm of Gilead
Were for carving initials
Into their smooth soft bark.
Years later those same wounds
Remained visible, distended,
Gaping marks
Later in life my churlish attitude
Toward trees
Turned into gratitude
Trees were a source of heat,
Shade and shelter

And at Christmas time, an infant pine
With long soft needles and sweet smell,
Symbol of an ancient culture,
Reigned with renewed spirituality
And splendor
In my home
During the Mountain Pine Beetle
Epidemic
I found myself mourning the loss
Of our stately pines
Which turned bright red
Before dying
Across Canada I’ve enjoyed the view
Of trees in the wilderness
Voluminous groves of glorious cedar
On the West Coast
And the hardy island arbutus
That shed their bark
In summer
In the swamplands east of the Rockies
There are groves of tamaracks.
They lose their pretty needles
In winter
Naked throughout
The bitter cold
Hemlock, oak and elm trees
Cottonwoods, aptly named
Because of the large billowy
Seeds they release
Reminiscent of a snowstorm-
In July
The maple tree is the symbol of
Canada’s vitality
Brilliant red in autumn like the classic dress
Of the RCMP
In spring
The tree releases a sweet sap
That’s become known as our country’s
Identity
Canada is symbolic of many things
To its people
For me it’s the wonderful diversity
Of its trees.