Happy Canada Day!
(it's a little quieter here today compared to yesterday!)
Sweet times!
I love you, Canada, home of many an afternoon
'ere fresh-made echoes wafted, soft on twilight's tender hush/brush...
I love you Canada, with lakes azure, and wheat fields, gold
And sweeps of green till fields are curbed by shorelines, treed and skied
And summers with days long and bright, and winters, white and cold
And springs, welcomed with open arms and autumns, auburn-dyed
I love you Canada, of friendly folk and flowered streets
Nation of ‘True North, Strong and Free’ founded by Christian men
I love your roaming cattle herds, your birds, your front row seats
To watch nature unfurling poetry beneath God’s pen
I love your orchards, vineyards, gardens burgeoning with fruit
I love the plethora of calls you employ, shore to shore
From mines to oilfields to ranches and farms, to business suit
To ship and lumber yards, fisheries, and craftsmen galore
I love your plains and mountain peaks, your rolling countryside
Your roads, wild-flower fringed or carved like craters through the snow
I love your villages and towns and cities, nationwide
Your rivers tumbling seaward, through rock cuts where no feet go
I love the nook that I call home; where someday history
Amongst its records of milestones that never make the news
Somewhere, some census-cyber-tome, will name my family
Canadians, no matter which highways they chance to choose
I love you, Canada, the precious freedoms you defend
Oh pray, the Lord we stand on guard against disunity
And do all that we can our hateful habits to amend
No matter what differences of opinion might be
…because a country is more than political degrees
A country is its people; every shade-shape-size and age
A country is like a collection of communities
Made up of many means whereby we earn our working wage
I love you, Canada, country of home, sweet home to me
Country of countless reasons to live thankfully and awed
Country for which many gave all to keep it strong and free
So that the likes of you and me could freely worship God
I love you, Canada, home of many an afternoon
'ere fresh-made echoes wafted, soft on twilight's tender hush/brush
Where mothers call and bedtime still always come far too soon
Where some things never change in spite of Change's constant push/rush
I love you Canada, home where Maple Leaf banners blow
Home of beauty beyond the begging ballads of a pen
Home of the hopes and dreams of our precious children, oh
God, keep our land glorious and free, honouring Thee. Amen
Janet Martin
to receive glory and honor and power,
for You created all things;
by Your will they exist and were created.”
majesty, dominion, and authority
through Jesus Christ our Lord
before all time, and now,
and for all eternity.
Amen.