Happy Birthday, Canada!

Happy birthday Canada!

We have heard your friendly seagulls
and your ferry whistles
and the french accents of young girls,
the midnight cries of mating cats
and the quiet sound of knots of ribbon snakes
slithering away into the woods.

We have glimpsed your seals
and puffins
and sea urchins
and lynx
and dall sheep
and wood bison,
and found grizzly scat in the middle of the road.

We have waited at your borders to be scrutinized
and questioned
and be taken apart. 
Advice: Never say
"What's the matter lady,
you got PMS or something?"
like Uncle Dick did.

We have felt your whale splashes,
your cold nights on Lake Huron,
your tidal bore,
and your mosquitoes.
Our feet have waded in your tidepools bare
because we left our flip flops on PEI.
We did not wade in the Yukon
after we saw a huge tree appear
and disappear
from its muddy flow.

We have canoed to your pictographs.
We have looked for tiny moonworts
and found old bottles instead.

We have tasted your snails
and seaweed
and mussels
and lobsters
and fresh strawberries
and a bucket of perch.

We have sung,
rather well,
on your public radio station
near the Plains of Abraham.

We have tried,
unsuccessfully,
to count your fireweed
and to make a fish harness,
and have helped sink a boat called "Dundee."

We have seen the underwater lights of night divers
and the twinkling lights of fireflies.
We have seen the rocky cliffs
that used to touch African shores.
We have seen the maple leaves
on the haunches of the horses
of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
We have seen your canola fields
and are glad you changed the name
from "rapeseed."

We found the snake you hid in our stove.
We have worn our honeymoon jeans
to one of your proper churches.

We were reminded of Aslan
singing Narnia into existance
at the foot of the mighty McKenzie mountains.
Primal.

We have climbed your trees
and a few cliffs
to find perfectly cubed rocks.
We will climb your Rockies next year,
God willing!
We have loved it all,
mostly.

We are comfortable to be your neighbor
and happy to be your friend.