On Monday, July 1, we celebrate Canada Day.
WE LOVE YOU, CANADA!
This week, in honor of Canada’s 157th birthday, a re-post of “Flag,” a poem about our flag that I wrote some years ago.
Flag
“National flag of Canada
two by length and one by width, red
containing in its center a white square
the width of the flag
with a single red maple leaf
centered therein”*
flies majestic since 1965
over town squares
by cenotaphs and schools
from Cape Spear, Newfoundland
to Beaver Creek, Yukon
Alert, Nunavut
to Middle Island, Ontario.
Proudly raised at Olympics
wrapping the grim coffins of soldiers
feted on Canada Day
marched in to the skirl of bagpipes November 11th
this silk-screened symbol
stitches together
our experience and destiny
sea to sea to sea.
When so plentiful at home you no longer see
till it’s reincarnated into jester caps
umbrellas and wind socks
painted on faces, stamped on T-shirts
decaled onto mugs and beaver pens
abroad even one
grabs your homesickness
like the initials of a sweetheart.
Meet someone with your flag stitched on his pack
and you know he’ll understand Tim Horton’s
hockey, Z that rhymes with ‘bed’
loonies, toonies, Bruce Cockburn, Diana Krall
Circque du Soliel, CBC, Air Canada, O Canada.
Sorry, but how great is it to have found someone
who speaks your own language, eh?
© 2008 by Violet Nesdoly
*Description taken from Canadian Heritage: pch.gc.ca website, Canadian flag description page (this version no longer online).
ALSO…
Last week I sent out a letter to my subscribers. If you’re interested, you can read my June newsletter online. (Subscribe HERE to get my quarterly newsletter sent directly to you.)
With the coming of July, summer is really upon us. I will be taking a break from regular posting on the blog but plan to return to once weekly updates again in September.
Wishing all readers a happy, healthy, safe, and rejuvenating vacation! Many blessings!!
See you in September (or sooner if inspiration hits).
Violet Nesdoly 