Friday, February 02, 2007

February

The first floor of the hospital has large windows that look out onto a central courtyard. On some of the windows brightly coloured panels of blue, red and yellow feature a collection of poems, some written by previous residents, and others written by published poets. I often take my ambulatory patients down here for a longer walk. Most of them walk slowly, and I read the verses as we amble along.

I haven’t had the time to read all of them yet, but noticed this short verse written by a Canadian poet, Charles G. D. Roberts.

In spite of the persistent cold weather over the past three weeks, local streams with a fast current are still at least partially open. On a very cold day we walked through the fields and beside this stream at our local Pioneer Village. The tracks along the path were interesting…a rabbit, likely a very large hare, ducks, cross country skiers, and something unknown that dragged through the snow leaving a winding trail along the bank of the creek.

There is plenty of life here, even in the winter, but the creek does whisper the promise of spring to come.

4 comments:

  1. It warms my heart that you recite those lovely words to your patients. February is our last challenge before the arrival of Spring. Thanks for this uplifting story.

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  2. Mary' is right- February is a challenge for us waiting for spring. The brook poem is lovely- full of hope!

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  3. What a lovely thing to have all that poety greet you in that space. I am sure it brings smiles to the hearts of many.

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  4. Mary- We usually have the winter challenge in March as well. We are lucky to have forsythia by mid-April and maple leaves by the first week of May.

    Lynne- You are further north than we are and will likely stay cold for longer than this month too!

    Jayne- I feel very fortunate to work in such a nice setting.

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