The Old Mattagami River Poem by Nick krakana

A floating log cabin
Was their home
On the upper Mattagami

Sharing a world
That is no more
Way up there
On the Mattagami shore

A simple log cabin
Built on a cedar raft

Sunday was the day
Dad and I made our way
Down the Dalton to their hide away

With old magazines
A world to see
Their favourite was National Geography

Like Children on Christmas Morn
Their eyes lit up like the old wood stove
On a january morning

A colourful memory
Of Sunday's gone by
Up there under the northern sky

Visiting Dad's old friends
The trapping pioneer twins

It was a joy to see

This enjoyment of their company
The fruit we brought
Was the day's delight

Speaking in French
And sounding tight
Like at the dance in town
On a Saturday night

The three did munch
On fruit and stories
Of what I did not know

Only that they laughed a lot
That was in English...
I remember it so

The old twin brothers
Of Hydro Bay... long ago have passed away

Gone over to the other side

And there the three
Still laughing free...
Transferred to my memory

From those sunny Sunday afternoons

Were the Dalton meets the Bay
Called... Hydro to this day
And the dam... still churns out power
In it's old familiar way

Nick Krakana Sr.
December 2019