Our family took a nature hike.
The famed Banff Fenlands was our goal.
The ancient forest, shady trails
And ‘Pooh-sticks’ bridges. Lovely stroll.
We’d quite an age range, I’ll agree,
From newborn babe to Gramma, old.
Saw ravens, squirrels, chipmunks, elk,
Nine burrows, nests and lichen mold.
Two had fallen, skinned their knees.
One got moss/bugs in her hair.
Three had roamed, chased back by me.
One rammed a tree, his eyes . . . elsewhere.
Two slipped and soaked at least one shoe.
One needed nursing. Mom! Right now!
Our favourite sort of family fun,
While jumping roots and dodging boughs.
Beside the trail, a rotted tree.
‘Twas taller than the other plants,
Was struck by lightning long ago,
Then finished by car-pen-ter ants.
Our son, Erik, explained it thus,
To cousins ages five and six.
He reached and grabbed the ancient trunk.
The four kids simply stared, transfixed.
“This happened once the tree was killed.”
He pulled on it to illustrate.
The tree split down the middle then,
A giant felled by its own weight.
Our son stared at the crushed remains.
A wee bit stunned by what he’d done.
The kids were happy, they’d not foreseen
Such a show when they’d begun.
“Your Dad just ripped that tree in half!”
They said in their vernacular.
His young son grinned and “Yup” he said.
“My Dad, you know’s spectacular!”
There’s lots of things for you to see,
With all your family. In the woods.
Not all of them about nature,
But each and every one is good.
Mondays do get knocked a lot,
With poetry, we three besought,
To try to make the week begin,
With gentle thoughts--perhaps a grin?
Now post our poems for you to see.
And when you’ve read what we have brought,
And next week in our neighbourhood,
We'll tackle 'working'. It'll be good!
