|
Picture
!
A
poem,
...
"OH,
ô... , ,
 ma
chérie"
by Kenneth Selin
(say'leen)
(Here
....
SHE
....
goes...
HANG
ON
to your bonnet,
my
Dear.)
Early in the day,
I
looked lovingly...
lightly...
over
yonder bay ...
I see
this one-way sign
and take it to be
something
GOOD and TRUE. 
Where was it to lead
me ...
but
to my Cree canoe  .
"How do you do?" asked
I of the
canoe.
"Let's
shove off and explore
this land
that
you
and I
love ...
SOooo...
dearly ... too."
Aahhh,
but
my mind
did wander,
as
it often
does
-- in search of FREEDOM --
to
that MAPLE sailboat in
autumn.
I
can see
it all ... now
...
as
clear as BRIGHT day.
It was called the
Santa Fe
and
it
brought me home every
sailboat day
to my
solitary cabin
down
by the shorewhere
the fishermen and fish
come to play.
At night, the
Sun went down
by the light house
in
a spectacular way
in the stary
of
nightly
display .
... to await
the dawning Sun
and the
Light
of Day.
(Here... SHE ... comes ... )
"LeT TheGreatManitou
show
you
the
way on the water
and SEE
what this
great land has
to offer
and let it
inspire you
with great joy
as
you paddle true",
suggested my crusty Creecanoe.
"When
you paddle with me,
THE
COURSE you
will take
will
be straight
and
true
like a good Cree warrior
as
thee."
I
smiled and said:
"You flatter
me,
you
do."
"Are YOUnot
of the coureur
de bois race?"
my
canoe
did asked.
"The Cree and
your race:
we are one,
But
it is we,
Cree,who lead the Way."
He
said as
a matter of fact
...
and
then,
HE
LAUGHED
... and laughed
...
and ...
HOw he laughed.
Then
said
HE
with
a grin:
"Get in
...
Get in ...
Be quick ...
Let's ... SHOVE
OFF!
Someone or something
is surely WAITING
FOR US
just
around
the bend
...
over
yonder ...
don't
languish
... "
hastened
me my
guide.
(So
with a wry grin ... I got
in.)
I
paddled ... my Cree craft QUIEtly
...
and ... quietly
... I paddled the
waterbed
without
any dread
with
my
heart pulSAting
to
the ancestral drums of
yore
rythmicly,
pounding the strong
dips of my paddle
into
the
water
and
to this beautiful waterway
...
I
did come
bordered by flowerbeds ...
sweet grass ...
tAll young saplings
...
all
there to refresh me
I
layed down my
thoughts
of anguish
and despair
of HOW the
Cree did
fare.
Yet,
I
felt
sooo inspired ...
that my thoughts
were filled
with uncontrolable glee
knowing that the Cree
will claim their
land
...
in
history.
The
English and
the
French may have
tricked them,
cheated them,
wounded them,
but
the
land is still theirs,
theirs to lay claim to,
theirs to cling to.
In
the
midst of all this,
I
did hear
Jamaican music piping
...
ChEER!
and A
SONG,
a song ...
I
did
hear
SING
down by
... Montego Bay. :-)
I even thought ... I
heard
*>* Bob Marley *<*
ask
...
in his Caribean
way ...
with
a smile and a
grin:-)
"Shall I sing hIGh?
Shall I sing loW?
Down ... by ...
Montego Bay?"
I
dream ... of THAT
DAY
some day soon
when
ALL the world
will
be
ONE
and
at play ...
Oh,
what
a GLORIOUS day
that will be ...
to laugh and splash
with friends
 
what joy
we shall see ...
down
by the
Bay
by
the
Sea
that sunny, sunny day
some day soon!
Oh
ya!
Oh,
...
happy
...
happy ...
day ...
ma chérie"
And
so ends
the
legend
of
my crusty
Cree
canoe
that
captures
my love
of
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