Bennett’s Cottage

In  the Ottawa River,

an island,

black pine trees,

wind-weathered,

silhouetted against gray-fog sky,

a cottage built in 1919

stone fireplace,

pine walls,

photographs in sepia

from another lifetime

the sound only of water lapping against rock

and lonely wind sawing through the pines

the mist rising slowly

from the river

to reveal more islands

lost in time.

Birdsong

At night around the fireplace

tales of other rendezvous

other Thanksgiving dinners

cooked in a wood stove,

pumpkin pie, Canadian wine

Behold the dawn,

Quebec the other side,

Today we will go

to les Chutes de Coulonge,

a red-covered bridge, poignant,

tomorrow we will scatter family ashes.







No palm trees here

only plumed black pines

red maple leaves

the lap of cold steel blue waves

against gray granite rocks

and yet it is paradise to me

the call of the wind

through the pines

blueberry lined paths

ethereal mists rising from the waters,

the flight of Canada geese against the morning sky,

birch trees , sympathique,

a paradise of rock and pine and river

that I had dreamt of once in a wistful dream

that I had looked for forever

and there it was

as in a wistful dream

© Donna Bamford