Here Up North

 

                     

Neil Harding McAlister

 

 

 

Here up north the air is cleaner.    

Autumn wind blows cold and clear,

Making all the senses keener

As the waning days grow leaner,

And long winter nights draw near.

 

Here the moon is always bigger.   

With rare beauty she’s endowed,

Cutting a majestic figure;

Sailing on, with grace and vigor,

Through the shoals of scudding cloud.             

 

Here up north the magic’s stronger.

In the sky the Northern Lights

Glow in phosphorescent wonder.

Awesome spectacles they conjure,

Moving, dancing in the night.

 

Here up north the Spring’s more urgent;

Life explodes with pent-up might:

All the forms of life divergent,

Birds returning, flowers resurgent,

With the coming of the light.

 

Here the evenings last much longer

When the summertime has come.

Day by day the light grows stronger.

On the tundra, great herds wander,

Guided by the midnight sun.

 

Here up north the lines are sharper.

Icebergs pierce the azure skies.                     

Light’s more dazzling, shadows darker,

Choices clearer, contrasts starker.

Open vistas hide no lies.

 

Keep your crowded, southern highways

Where cars scuttle back and forth.

We prefer the unmarked byways

Underneath our clear, blue skyways,

Drinking deep from Nature’s source.

Life is better, here up north!

 

Kirkland Lake, Ontario

February, 2003