The Rain Coast

 Rhododendron Spring - Victoria BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. 2007

I am re-posting this poem from June of 2014 as I am ardently awaiting the joys of Spring in the Pacific temperate rainforest: the colour, the wet explosion of life, as floral fireworks. The birdsong: an orchestral accompaniment to the perpetual gift that Nature provides in her capacity for giving life and sustenance. We must respect her, at the very least, we must respect her. I am grateful for the gift of life she gives - this heaven on earth. 

This poem is an ode to the great mother - giver of life. 

Every lick of colour

sopping springtime blooms

wet paint in every green

fills the canvas of my town

Splotching pinkest pinks

Camellia upon Camellia

the fair flower that leaps whole

to the grassy bed below

Rhododendrons grow as trees here

floral monsters in pastel

a million pink and purple tongues 

catching raindrops from the sky

Now I lay me down among you

on this verdant, spongy ground

raincoat and gumboot clad

wash me clean upon this land

-Gillian Cornwall, February 7, 2016

Originally posted, c. June 1, 2014

Brentwood Bay

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 2015

Heaven and Earth - Revisited

Bluebells - Victoria, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c.  April 2012

May, I taste the proximity of summer, all the while walking through the oaken wood, soaked knee-deep by thick, green grasses and bluebells. A narcissus bobs to the beat of my heart. It is here I unite with all of life, known and unknown, as I stretch into the unfathomable depth and breadth of the universe. Stars tickle my fingertips as they tattoo the universal truth upon my hands. 

"You are here," they pen upon me and I whisper my understanding as I bring my arms down to caress the Camas lily at my feet. It sparkles with dew and stardust. In this moment I need for nothing, in awe of the simple perfection of life. 

-Gillian Cornwall, c. May 1, 2012.

 Narcissus - Victoria, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 2014

 Daffodil - Victoria, BC

Gillian Cornwall, c. April 2014