Followers

Monday, January 9, 2012

For Real Toads: the Isle of Skye

Yesterday, Kerry presented a pictorial prompt for the writers' group Imaginary Garden with Real Toads. She offered as inspiration a photo, a painting, and also prose by the artist Ken Simm, featuring Whooper Swans on the beautiful Isle of Skye in Scotland.
It is my great hope to visit Skye one day, but, in the meantime, I do have photos of Canada Geese taken here in southern Alberta by my own intrepid photographer, my husband, Richard Schear.


To accompany these Canada Geese on their journey, I have chosen to work (approximately) within the format of the Skye Boat Song, which is (as are many poems and songs in Scotland) about Bonnie Prince Charlie.





Alberta Bird Song
*
Speed, bonny bird, like a boat on the wave,
Onward! the lead goose cries,
Fly, bonnie bird, O Canada’s pride
On through the nighttime skies.
Dark the clouds roll, loud thunder roars,
Lightning bolts streak the night
Baffled, we wonder how the geese know
Which direction is right.

2 comments:

Fran said...

Magnificent picture and song, well done. The geese have usually long gone from here by now, but I noticed a stray Brent Goose the other day, who had joined a flock of mallards on the river.

Kerry O'Connor said...

Such a beautiful image, and there is something about the sight of geese flying in formation which calls to the poet soul.