BEGIN
Begin is not a little ditty for novice singers – but rather a challenging and fulfilling undertaking.
Listen to the stunning recording by the Oakville Choir for Children and Youth. (directors Dr. Charlene Pauls and Dr. Sarah Morrison.)
Begin, begin, begin…
This lake, like others, was dug out
Grinding, grinding, scouring, scouring
Glacial ice grinding South – scouring weak Silurian stone
an arctic tsunami – leaving only the backbone of the escarpment
Canadian Shield and broken tumble of kames in its retreat
Begin, begin, begin…
glacial, glacial, glacial…
rebound, rebound, rebound…
Shimmering waters…
Ontario
Give or take a geologic blink
and now, a girl on Holocene shores
measure the distance – her to here.
Fifty four…
fifty four kilometres as the crow flies,
the herring gull, the cormorant with dried wings.
Sixty-four against the current.
Three point two kilometres an hour.
Slower than a winter housefly bumbling against your window.
This might be finished
this might be finished tomorrow
Stroke, roll, turn, glide ….
breast-stroke, front-crawl, glide, slide
butterfly, dolphin kick, tumble turn, body roll…
She inhales, wishes for the bones of a bird
a pigeon’s honing for home…
Small arms become wings, beating the jagged lake.
She’ll make the decision over and over
Nothing is a miracle or happens only once
Begin, begin, begin…
text by Tanis Rideout
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Cypress makes rehearsal tracks for choirs – here is a demo