Is it right to wish you

Happy Birthday,

the land in which my grandfather loved

and would speak so highly of

as he sat in his favourite armchair,

Saturday glued to the horse racing,

picking up pennies won,

here and there,

after all, and I say this with the love

of someone who has held you just

as aloft as the grey haired man

who fell asleep one day in March,

three thousand miles from home

and dreaming of air so vast,

you was there before this day

a hundred and fifty years ago,

just a different name, a first nation

under skies,

Niagara still ran deep

and foamed over rocks,

the wild forests still harboured

Timber Wolves able to put the Devil

of fright in you and the air

was so beautiful it hurt to destroy it

by breathing;

on reflection,

I wish you Happy Birthday

out of love so deep Oh Canada,

and with respect to your future

and reverence to your past.

 

Ian D. Hall 2017