From Here to There

by Bill Corden (December 2020)

The Jack Pine, Tom Thomson, 1916-1917

Van, Vancouver
The rain won’t stop
drip drip drip drip
drip drip drop

It starts in September
keeps comin’ down ’til May
Water, water everywhere
flowing out to English Bay.

Every creek is raging
every dam is high
every walk’s a puddle jump
from that river in the sky.

It rolls in from Hawaii
as the Pineapple Express
It sometimes comes from way up north
but it’s water none-the-less

2.

The locals, they ignore it
no need for umba-rellas
not like them sissy easterners
or tinsel cinderallas.

So when the heavens open
and the liquid sunshine soaks
they take it well within their stride
“it’s just a shower folks”

Now and then it turns to snow
but that’s a different story
then you see Vancouverites
in all their inept glory

They fall apart and slip and slide
they don’t know how to handle it
they call in sick, they run and hide
if they get stuck . . . abandon it!

And so it’s raining
as I write
it rained all day
and rained all night
it’s forecast for tomorrow too . . .
remember when the sky was blue?

Is this a tunnel with no light?
Or is a sunny end in sight?
I think I see a break off south
some rays of gold at the Fraser’s mouth

It might well be a false alarm
and I wouldn’t want to bet the farm
but it looks like good ole’ USA
is blowin’ all our clouds away

4.

The sun comes out, the ocean sparkles
just like Harry and Meghan Markle
the mountains run down to the sea.
As green and blue as they can be.

Days like this will get us through
the darkest times ahead
as we’re locked down with viral flu
tryin’ to stop the spread

Come spring I hope we all look back
along that road we’ve had to hack
the rain, the flu, election fraud
bad, bad news across the board