The Village Squire, 1981-10, Page 380
Last Word
1
SEAGULL
I watch the soaring gull
And wish that I, too,
Were free enough
To be imprisoned by survival.
NOTES -- This was written on an empty beach, last
spring, after a week overly -occupied with etiquette,
diplomacy, fashion and social niceties. Of course,
there's room for argument here. Would we be any
happier if all we had to deal with were survival?
Wouldn't that be worse? And who's to say that
survival, 20th -century -style, isn't exactly what we deal
with every day? Still, illusory though it may be, the
freedom of the gull beckons.
WILLOW
I think you live in the willow trees,
in their slender strength and grace,
I know I think about you
when I visit them,
and sit among the swaying tendrils
reaching to caress me.
NOTES -- Stratford's Avon River is Tined with willov,
trees but it's clear, I imagine, that this image didn't
come from the gnarled old giants that first catch the
eye In fact, there's a stand of young willows at a quiet
spot on the bank, not yet thick, but even so, tall and
powerful. Willows are most often given a feminine
context but, to me, that has never seemed imperative
THANKSGIVING
I let the land sink into my soul,
I breathe, I drink the crystal air,
My ears turn happy, soothed by the call
of birds,
And I feast my eyes on autumn's
festival.
NOTE -- Autumn's festival is something of an old
cliche, but there was just no other phrase to use. This
came, all of a piece, one Thanksgiving weekend while I
was leaning on a split rail fence, looking over a
panorama that included a small, Muskoka lake. The
silence spoke, and it was indeed a feast, a festival and
a moment of rejoicing.
/.1/��LGAPSIlii
Poetry: Thelma Morrison is a 29 -year-old journalist who has worked for The Beacon Herald in Stratford for the past six years.
Originally from Brampton. Miss Morrison received her Honors BA in Journalism -from the University of Western Ontario in London.
She now lives with her husband, Ron Puccini, and their dog Quixote in their 104 -year-old house near the Avon River in Stratford.
Drawing: Gail McMichael, 28, has worked as a reporter for The Beacon Herald in Stratford for the past eight months. Born in
Kitchener, Miss McMichael has enjoyed drawing since her early teens and has had cartoons and drawings published in a number of
newspapers.
PG. 32 VILLAGE SQUIRE/OCTOBER 1981