ELDER COAST: REFLECTIONS FROM AN OLDER RESIDENT
Like many others entering retirement, I found myself drawn to Vancouver Island. I consider it to be one of the most remarkable places on earth.
Growing up in an isolated community in northern Ontario, I attended a one-room school with limited access to the rest of the world. Thankfully I had bountiful access to nature. I spent countless hours exploring and venturing off, often on my own. I found solace and education in the great outdoors.
Throughout my life, I have remained intimately connected to nature and consider it my alternate classroom. Retiring from my career as a physician and moving to the Island with my wife has allowed me time and space to explore all the natural wonders this unique environment has to offer. Much of this appreciation for the natural world has been cultivated through gardening, and can be seen in the poetry I write.
It is my belief that Mother Nature is both a teacher and mirror. She weaves a gentle reminder that we are not separate from the world we inhabit, but deeply, beautifully, a part of it.
Song of Solitude
There’s a secret place where the restless oceans flow
That my fellow man seems not to understand, or know
It’s a refuge from society’s strifes and its vexing storms
Where Mother Nature sets the mood with its noble norms
It’s a quiet cove, a sanctuary on the scenic Salish sea
There I muse and meditate – it sets my soaring spirits free
The changing tides and rhythms of the lonely lapping waves
Are a miracle of melody with many musical octaves
The seagulls cry with joy and the ebullient eagles screech
As they ride the breezes effortlessly above this lonely beach
At sea a pod of Orcas hunt, while playful dolphins dance
Humpback whales spout and breech in this vast expanse
Gentle ocean breezes blow and caress my carefree cheeks
While I admire the allure and beauty of distant snow capped peaks
Suddenly a twig snaps, revealing two fawns and a doting doe
Close by a watchful wood thrush sings – it’s song so soft and low
A large white erratic boulder there defies the challenges of the sea
It’s a rock of untold ages that remains resolute for all to see
Weathered logs line the shore, lying loose in a haphazard way
Like many matchsticks cast aside by a boisterous boy at play
There is no finer place I know to rest and harmonize my soul
To calm and rejuvenate one’s mind, and make one’s heart whole
This is the solace of solitude, a secret society for a favoured few
Mother Nature’s pacifying place, for my memories and my id too
Take a moment and wander to your special place nearby
Just you and Mother Nature, the wilderness and the sky
Breathe in the bounteous beauty, let it seep into your very core
And an inner peace you’ll find there for now and evermore
