A Pastoral Poem About Algonquin Park And Other Countryside Places Poem by Gayathri Seetharam

A Pastoral Poem about Algonquin Park and other countryside places
-Gayathri B. Seetharam
I shall begin with a cricket pun
And say that my husband got out lbw
That is love before wedding
And I shall move onto political pastures
And quote the recently deceased ex-Liberal PM, John Turner,
Who said, "Democracy doesn't happen by accident,
You got to make it happen"
And this is as countryside as it gets, you think,
And pardon me for this childish joke;

I intend to make my garden "grown and sexy"
And am getting ready for the fall season
To plant bulbs that shall flower as the yellow marigolds and the purple lilacs
Lining the road to Toronto from Weber's, a countryside burger place,
You can also see pastoral delights like lambs and deer grazing on the green grass
In total harmony with the busy highway;

We also saw a Taoist temple in rural Ontario
Which is my husband's find
And it has a spiritual setting
And I lit an incense stick and knelt and prayed
And as a Hindu, asked for success with earnings
And peace and happiness for all of us;

But I have left the best for the last
And that is our visit to a cottage,
Beautiful and pastoral, beside Lake Oxtongue,
With tall pines and blue spruces
And close to Algonquin Park
Where we all hiked on Two Rivers Trail
Which had a simply stunning view on top of a cliff
But it was an uphill walk;

I shied away from a 10 km hike the next day
But went for a walk near the cottage
And was rewarded for my efforts
By gorgeous hydrangeas growing on a piece of land
Donated by a generous Canadian couple
The highlight of the walk came from a view of the lake
In which I waded with only my feet
And laughed delightedly at the cold water "tickling my feet" with its flowing velocity;

I saw birds of all feathers flocking together literally,
Outside our cottage
Orange crested robins, a blue jay and a gray jay both shy,
A baby sparrow, and a baby tourqan-like bird
And two American crows for joy
And a wise raven sitting solemnly contemplating the view near the Information centre
And red, bushy tailed squirrels running around busily hunting for acorns
And spoke to one bold squirrely, "Hey, there, friendly pardner";

From the car, I saw gossamer webs on the top of trees
Wispy and silvery just as L.M. Montgomery has described in her book, Anne of Green Gables,
As a description of Prince Edward Islands
So there, I say to P.E.I folks, Ontario is both well populated and lovely;

I proved that coloured reflections exist via empirical proof
For I actually saw an autumn reflection on Oxtongue Lake
Shining and shimmering and resplendent in its greens and oranges and reds
But caught an image of only greens
And this is different from what Halliday and Resnick have said
In their Physics textbook that a total internal reflection or coloured reflections
Cannot occur when light originates in the medium of lower index of refraction
And in this case only, does nature disagree with science;

I also saw star trilliums growing beside the trail, beneath the trees,
Capturing my imagination with their wild look
And they were violet and white and can be seen in Arrowhead Provincial Park
And lo and behold! I also saw a hollow at the base of a tree
Out of which I thought a rabbit would come out for an early Easter
Or a groundhog would declare an early end to the winter
All during the autumn years of mine
For I would not be true to myself if I did not make a comeback in my engineering career
In the footsteps of the recently deceased US Supreme Court Chief Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg
Who had thought that if she did not make it, she would be failing for all women.

Acknowledgements:
1. CBC Radio
2. Poets.org