In 2014 I experienced my first Christmas in my part of Canada (Quebec) where there was no snow. If it wasn’t the first, then it was the first I was cognizant of. That was pretty weird, but it didn’t really hit me until I was returning from Arnprior, Ontario on New Year’s Day after a visit to my sister’s home. We were driving south east along the Trans Canada between Ottawa and Montreal and I saw Geese flying North. Canada Geese are usually gone at this time of year, and they go South. With Global warming/climate change a real and challenging threat to our existence this got me thinking about how muddled things are and how we have messed with nature, and how now nature was messing with us. This song arrived pretty much in a chunk. No real work involved. I don’t think I even had to erase a word or a line. I am not saying this to brag, but to underline that necessity is the mother of invention. Of course the next year had a ton of snow and I din’t sing the song. Subsequent years have been very different. The norm seems to have gone from copious amounts of snow to variable conditions. This year, as I write, there is rain and freezing rain throughout the region bringing the relevance of this song into focus especially as there seem to be more politicians abusing their privilege to encourage behaviour detrimental to our planet.
They Lost Their Way
I saw them flying North today
A sight for April or for May
But today is New Year’s Day
I guess the geese have lost their way
There was no snow on Christmas Day
No jingle bells no one horse sleigh
No more laughing all the way
Not just the geese have lost their way
It’s not just tradition dying
Canada Geese should not be flying
What a way to start the year
This warming filling me with fear
I saw them flying North today
The lakes are open and the fields are grey
But today is New Year’s Day
I guess the geese have lost their way
They used to know instinctively
When to arrive and when to flee
They’d hit the air and form a “V”
They knew exactly where to be
It’s not just tradition dying
Canada Geese should not be flying
What a way to start the year
This warming filling me with fear
The patterns of the centuries
All disappear when the lakes don’t freeze
So give me ice and give me snow
And geese who know which way to go
