A Poem for Kat

I wrote this for Kat on the anniversary of our first date. I've been planning to post it since then. This weekend was the anniversary of us agreeing to be a couple (as far as I was concerned we already were . . .) so this seems like a good time to get it done. The significance of the canoeing theme should be pretty clear to anyone who was at the wedding . . .

Come pick out a paddle, we'll start in Vancouver
and follow the old Voyageurs.
We'll weave down the waterways, and we'll maneuvre
through forests where memory blurs.
We'll each take a turn
in the bow and the stern
and find out just how much we can do.
My love, be my wife,
and we'll launch a new life
in our beautiful mustard canoe.

Come pick out a paddle, we'll cross through the north
and relearn the meaning of need,
reorder priorities, second, third, fourth,
until our word matches our deed.
Each night on the Shield
we'll see grace revealed,
the stars, and the Great Manitou.
And then we'll untether
and launch out together
in faith, and our mustard canoe.

Come pick out a paddle, the river is free
and each choice a new watershed.
But as we near rapids each upside-down V
points us on to the Voyage ahead.
With hearts madly racin'
we'll invoke Bill Mason
at each choice we cannot undo.
When going gets rougher
we'll trust in each other
and in our old mustard canoe.

Come pick out a paddle, this life's a portage
where many have fallen before.
But I'll share the weight of it, and I'll massage
your shoulders at night when they're sore.
We don't know the length
of our days or our strength
or what the next life might renew.
But we'll steer for the dawn
until we pass on
your father's old mustard canoe.


with love,
J.