A Canadian Calendar: XII Lyrics

In Short

This poetry collection tracks the turning cycle of twelve months through the vast landscapes of New Brunswick and the Canadian North. Across twelve interconnected lyrics, a speaker journeys down winding rivers, through snowbound pine forests, and past sunlit clearings. Along the way, he encounters phantom lovers, rugged woodsmen, and long-travelled companions. Built on the contrast between bitter winter drifts and sudden spring thaws, the sequence transforms a simple outdoor calendar into an elegant, mournful reflection on love, loss, and the inevitability of time. It endures as a vivid portrait of nature's relentless power.

The Story

The volume opens in the early days of spring as melting rivers thunder through alder thickets and willow buds tremble with returning life. Drawn by the irresistible pull of April, two travelers cast off the long paralysis of winter to follow the northbound streams and take joy in the reborn earth. By May, the ice fades entirely from the hills, giving way to logging rafts floating toward busy sawmills and gentle winds calling wanderers out onto the open road.

As the warmer months arrive, the wilderness turns into a realm of choices and unexpected encounters. A landsman standing at the riverbank debates a seasoned sea captain named Will Carver, weighing the quiet comfort of inland woods along the Nashwaak against the wild, haunted freedom of the open ocean. Deep in the summer woods, a grieving lover walks an ancient path only to meet a pale ghost whose face is worn by rain and time, her golden hair fading like the summer sun into the shadows of poplar and birch trees. Yet August brings brief, ecstatic warmth; canoeing down golden waters at sunset, two lovers reunite among yellow uplands, drifting beneath the moonrise while listening to the fall of duck-oats and the quiet rush of tide.

With the arrival of autumn, the mood grows heavier and more reflective. Addressing the harvest season directly, the speaker confronts the realization that decay creeps into every living thing, from flowers and empires to human hearts. Memories of past warmth fade into desolate grey days spent longing for lost lovers along the misty reaches of the St. John River. In the cold isolation of late fall, a solitary watch begins inside a quiet home, where the sound of rain against the windowpane brings agonizing anticipation of a ghostly return at midnight.

As winter takes hold, a band of weary seekers marches down an endless road through driving rain and high snowdrifts, leaving behind the graves of fallen companions while pressing forward toward a promised peace just beyond the horizon. Two travelers push through deep snow under the Northern Lights, leaning on each other for warmth and finding shelter in a isolated cabin with a generous lodger. Finally, as the March wind howls across the snowfields, the speaker watches the first rain break the winter ice, calling out across the silence to a lost love who now slumbers far beyond the reach of spring.

How It Unfolds

The spring break-up April thaws release the frozen northern rivers, driving two companions out into the wilderness to celebrate the return of green shoots and rushing waters.

The landsman's choice On the banks of the Nashwaak in May, a traveler hesitates as the sailor Will Carver urges him to leave inland comfort behind for the vast, haunted horizon of the sea.

An encounter in the woods Walking a fading forest trail in high summer, the speaker meets the spectral ghost of an old love before gliding down a golden river in a birch canoe as night falls.

The lesson of autumn Autumn arrives in a blaze of red maples, prompting a somber meditation on mortality, failed harvests, and the bitter truth that all bright things decay.

Night watch and snowdrifts As winter settles over the hills, a solitary lover listens to the moaning wind and wet branches, waiting in vain for footsteps on the stairs while homeless wanderers trudge through deep snow under the aurora borealis.

The March wind The year comes full circle as wild spring winds and first rains shatter the winter silence, leaving the speaker to mourn a companion who sleeps in the quiet earth.

The People

The Speaker A deeply observant traveler and lover whose heart is attuned to the subtle shifts of the Canadian climate. He seeks beauty and human connection in the wild, yet he is constantly haunted by lost relationships, passing time, and the painful knowledge that nature outlasts every human joy.

Will Carver A weathered, persuasive sea captain who courts the landsman to join his voyage. He offers no comfortable guarantees, promising instead the eerie magic of the deep sea, alien wakes, distant signals, and the strange solace of an open horizon where ocean meets sky.

The Lost Lover / Ghost A elusive figure who appears as a living partner in bright August light and as a pale, silent apparition among grey leaves in the autumn woods. Whether real or remembered, her presence evokes deep tenderness and enduring grief.

The Companion A resilient partner who shares the speaker's winter treks, binding snowshoes and trudging through dark fir forests toward the warmth of a distant hearth before passing away into the quiet earth.

In Its Own Voice

"The trees grow thickly there; no place / Has half so many trees; / And hunted things elude one there / Like ancient memories." -- On the dense, haunting woods where the ghost of a past love first appears.

"In my unwisdom then, I had not read / The message writ across Earth's face, alas, / But scanned the sun instead." -- Reflecting on youthful innocence before understanding that decay touches every living thing.

"And O the white stars in the sky! / And O the glitter of the snow!-- / Henceforth we know our feet should know / Fair ways to travel--she and I--" -- Emerging from a dark forest into the open expanse of a winter night.

What It's Really About

Beneath its vivid depictions of Canadian rivers, logging trails, and pine forests, this collection is an extended meditation on grief, impermanence, and the passage of time. The shifting seasons serve as a mirror for human emotion: spring represents liberation, summer brings fleeting passion, autumn introduces decay, and winter brings isolation and death.

The poems ask whether human memory can truly triumph over loss. While the natural world renews itself each April with rushing rivers and fresh grass, human life moves in a single direction toward the grave. The speaker grapples with the pain of surviving after loved ones have departed, finding that even the joyous return of spring is bittersweet when those who once shared it are gone forever.

Why Read It Today

This collection will appeal to readers who appreciate classic landscape poetry, elegiac verse, and romantic portrayals of the outdoors. Its atmosphere is steeped in the specific textures of the late-nineteenth-century Canadian wilderness—the scent of wet alder trees, the sound of distant sawmills, the gleam of freshly cut wood chips in a clearing, and the cold solitude of snowshoe trails under the Northern Lights.

Reading these twelve lyrics feels like taking a long, quiet walk through a changing northern landscape in the company of a sensitive guide. The verse moves with a natural, musical cadence that balances rugged realism with haunting imagery. While modern readers may occasionally find its romantic diction and formal stanza structures somewhat traditional, the collection's emotional honesty remains intensely relatable. The struggle to hold onto beauty in the face of inevitable loss gives these seasonal songs a timeless, heartbreaking weight that lingers long after the final March wind subsides.