Doug Blair - My Slim Bark

My slim bark, my slim bark

Glides smoothly cross the lake.

A common loon, a father

Thinks this a strange mistake

And flounders, a seeming wound

To lure me from his brood

As if my ever paddling here

Were something wrong and rude.

But I know so much different

The waters seem like home

And play with me from dawn to dusk

As happily I roam.

Sometimes they roll a coaster-ride

And I have scarce to pull

Sometimes they chop in drizzle's haze

And work is plentiful.

The sky affords a canopy

Of God's most vivid art

In clear blue heat, in threatening clouds

To thrill this wanderer's heart.

The air is fresh, my lungs are clean

The smell of pine delights

A moose looks on from evening's shore

And oh, those northern lights!

And such has been the legacy

Of voyageurs of yore

Who crossed these lakes, and camped these rocks

Through many moons before.

A small fire sheds its warming hue

The limbs all happily ache

And small frogs close the day in song

As sweet dreams overtake.

Doug Blair

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/my-slim-bark/