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Okanagan Lament
by Alice ElizabethThompson

          
He called it God’s country
That foolish old man with the eyes
The colour of summer blue
He lived in antiquity
With his kerosene lanterns
And wood burning stoves
What did he know of the computer age?
Of robots or rocket fuels
A space ship landing on Mars
Or walking on the moon
His technology lay
In cinches and saddles,
Shovels and fencing pliers,
Hard work, long days
And sleeping by glowing campfires

I long for the summer winds
That blow from the desert dunes
With the sweet scent of syringa
And greasewood in bloom
The sound of children’s laughter
Playing in the parched earth at the heat of noon
Swimming in the lake, diving from the bridge
Or fishing for bass in the lazy lagoon

Yes, it is God’s country
For he was no fool at all
So I’ve come to know
Only an old man too wise for his time
I still see him weathered and bowed
Leaning into the wind
On the long trail home
With his woolly chaps
And his Stetson pulled low
Over his shock of hair
White as the winter snow
Staring beyond the horizon
With those beautiful eyes
Yes eyes, so full of wisdom
And the colour of Okanagan skies


for Valentine Carmichael Haynes ~ Cowboy
December 21, 1875 – February 21, 1963

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