To The Whiskey Jack

Eight years old in northern Sask and chopping wood,
My axe is poised o’erhead to split a block,
Weasel pops his head outside the pile of wood,
I wield the axe, add kindling to the stock.

Though spring is nigh, the snow is deep, it’s cold,
Yesterday’s shinook frozen rivulets,
The garden waits for warmth and worms so bold,
Native land awaits the spring’s new minuet.

A whistle song cuts the quiet grabs my ear
Feisty, hardy, proud, Gray Jay flaps his wings
He’ll do anything for food, shows no fear
Chatty Whiskey Jack, my own first sign of Spring.

Northern bird, he’s asking us to stand up tall.
Whiskey Jack, Whiskey Jack, I heed your call.

Winter

Winter tucks you in under a pure white blanket
And you are snug and warm for months on end…
Until you have to go out. Baby it’s cold out!
And the landmarks are covered and you miss the bend
And your snowshoe falls off and there’s a cold, cold wind…

But the cupboard is bare in the winter…

The Alzheimer’s journey is somewhat like that–seemingly never ending. Just when you think this winter of heartache is near to its end, your loved one enters another stage. And when spring finally arrives, it brings more sad news. You think you’re stuck in everlasting flu.
But, like winter, there are those warm moments that you live for…

And summer is coming…

SPRING

The flowers will grow again
Warm breezes will blow again
And you will smile again
Come what may
You will find yourself again
Get to know yourself again
You will wake from this nightmare
You will slough off the scare
Yes, you will love again
Love again, laugh again
And life will be easy to bear
Come what may
You have done well
You have served well
You have learned well
And you will smile
Come what may

The Whisky Jack – Canada’s official bird, the Grey Jay – was my first sign of spring when I was a child in the north. What is yours? The robin? Snow drops? Catkins? A skein of geese?

CREDIT: Photo by miguel de la bastide – 
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gray_Jay/sounds  The Cornell Lab of Otnithology