Where am I to find your soul
Oh, Vancouver, where are you?
In your magnificent parks
Downtown symmetry of beautiful roads
Speeding sky-trains sliding smooth
North, south east and west
On sky-rise mansions that shine back the sun?
Where are you?
I missed you wherever I looked
Like the elusive maple
Hard to spot in your famous parks
Just dry leaves here and there
Then on paper
Proud image of State power.
Vancouver, where are you?
The grey of the sky, rain-soaked wet
Bite of chilly winds from west
Had no answer to offer
Neither did cherry-blossoms
That rain splendour on the roads
And passers-by
So profusely
Vancouver, where am I to find your soul?
I looked for you in the shine
Of lovers’ eyes in embrace, in vain,
In walkers who throw gentle smiles
On passers-by, yet aloof by miles
In the childlike demeanour of the aged
Meandering your parks their past packaged
I asked the firs, acacia, pines
Cypress, magnolia, evergreens
Giant dogwoods fast asleep
Thoughtful spruces, cedars alike
They offered a pre-spring yawn
Clad still smug in winter yarns
Silent, cold was Seymour Creek
Mist on Fraser did not speak
Ice-capped peaks on north and south
Neither had a word to mouth
Nothing on the landscape revealed
Where Vancouver remained concealed
Where am I to find your soul?
Oh, Vancouver, where are you?
At last as I emplane home,
I am beckoned from the groves
By you, Vancouver, there you are
In the sprouts that dot the barks -
Budding foliage - spring embarks!
You are the one soul that sustains
Winter’s silence, mirth of spring
Like sleep and wake in single chain
In me, Oh, we never are twain
Sad I missed you so many times!
Though I have had not the opportunity to visit Vancouver, yet I could find its soul in your poem, so brilliantly penned.
In search of the soul of Vancouver and finding it in the sprouts that dart the barks is and amazing story that is conveyed through powerful lines. Beautiful it is. Thank you.
You have drawn a picture perfect image of Vancouver in a medley of moods and shades of nature. Your knowledge of local trees is commendable. I would like to quote some lines: In the childlike demeanour of the aged / Meandering your parks their past packaged.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Reading this poem is as good as having made a trip to Vancouver...... a city that combines 'the silence of winter and the mirth of spring'! I understand that it is at once urban with its broad, beautiful roads and sky high mansions and quiet and serene like a country side with its rich array of different trees and magnificent parks! Have only heard of this coastal city! Thanks for having given us a feel of this beautiful city!