Keremeos

Keremeos, Keremeos!

Why is my heart breaking for you?

I have become a part of you;

You have become a part of me.

Tell me.

What is it that I see?

Dreams of fortune for young families.

What price!

For these dreams,

Their children will pay.

"They don’t teach me to work, so I’ll just play."

Busy mom, busy dad:

"Too busy for me!"

Too busy poisoning our family.

That includes you and me.

Spraying grapes,

Spraying apples:

A greater profit

But does it profit me?

My inheritance,

But, my God,

Is this what you

Have meant it to be?

Keremeos, Keremeos,

My beautiful Keremeos,

This is why I weep for thee.

Cy, August, 2000.

Keremeos Moonlight

Keremeos moonlight
In a Keremeos orchard;
The half-moon sitting there,
Silhouetted by the bright clouds there.
Dark leafy branches of apple trees
Make dappled branches dance with the breeze;
A white light
Softens the cold night;
A sight so rare
That it’s hard to bear;
My head dizzy
Like poplar trees tipsy,
Swaying in the wind,
Like the swaying in my mind,
To the joyful dance of the wind.
Its pulse makes me a little weak,
As the steady rush of Keremeos Creek
Steadies my clomping, dancing feet,
Stomping fallen apples
And tall, cool grass
Between the rows of apple trees;
All by the light of Keremeos moon.
It all makes me almost swoon,
All by the light of Keremeos moon.
I dance my jig by the light of the moon.
I dance to my lilting harmonica tune;
All by the light of Keremeos moon;
Yes, as I dance to the lilt of my harmonica tune;
Dancing by the light of Keremeos moon;
Dancing in the orchard as I play my tune;
Dancing by the light of Keremeos moon.

July 9, 2000, Keremeos, B.C.
Cyril Winter