The withered grass emerged from its coccoon,
its muted green faintly aglow amid the stones.
A wintry howl still echoed in the wind,
in the churning of waters down below.
Their cast-off plunder eddied round and round
as chilly mists ascended
to the hanging oblivion of the funicular,
in an increasing throbbing of cables all aquiver.
And yet in this vacation spot
there will be daffodils and other flowers
alien to the beginning of my life,
when the unspeakable river flowed so gently
within its honey shores.
I know I will return again year after year,
I will return again
wearing a little smile of wonderment
perched on my lips like a question mark.
Original version published in Canadian Literature, no. 142/143, (Fall/Winter 1994). Vancouver: British Columbia University Press. p. 10. This version courtesy of the author, 2001.