Black Day in December

Mermaid sits on a Siwash Rock in the harbour
watching the children play
Every day, sun or rain
Old man kneels to the earth to pray
for the rain and the stars and the cars at the heart
A dark and windy Vancouver
A black day in December
She sees the worst is yet to come
A big wave on the horizon
The first wind blowing in Left Stanley’s soldiers felled and broken
Old man kneels to the earth in his mother’s garden
Where his own father was laid
Every day, sun or rain
Mermaid sits on her rock and she prays
For the salmon in the sea, for the winged in the trees
For the old man on his knees
For the beauty in the park, and the cars at the heart
Her own sisters and her brothers
And ten thousand friends and lovers
A black day in December.
Mermaid sits on a tide washed rock in the harbour
where the Blue Heron would lay
Everyday sun or rain
old friends fall to the earth and decay
With the city by the sea
Sweet brine in the breeze
And the mountains watching over her Vancouver
A black day in December