Alberta
Bound (V2)
I
own a gate to this prairie
that
ends facing the Rocky Mountains.
They
call it Alberta -
trail
of endless blue sky
asylum
of endless winters,
hermitage
of indolent retracted sun.
Deep
freeze drips haphazardly into spring.
Drumheller,
dinosaur badlands, dried bones,
ancient
hoodoos sculpt high, prairie toadstools.
Alberta
highway 2 opens the gateway of endless miles.
Travel
weary I stop by roadsides, ears open to whispering pines.
In
harmony North to South
Gordon
Lightfoot pitches out
a
tone -
"Alberta
Bound."
With
independence in my veins,
I
am long way from my home.
Alberta Winds -- Richard Alm
Alberta Winds -- Richard Alm
The Canadian province of Alberta was named after British queen Victoria and her consort prince Albert's daughter Louise Caroline Alberta, the wife of John George Edward Henry Douglas Sutherland Campbell (9th duke of Argyll), Canada's 4th governor general. Their 1871 wedding was the 1st between a monarch's legitimate daughter and a subject since 1515. he became governor general in 1878, when he was only 33. Much of the province had formerly been part of the Hudson's Bay Company's Rupert's Land fur monopoly, though some of it was part of the French (and eventually American) territory of Louisiana. The US ceded the northern part of Louisiana to the UK in 1818; Canada bought Rupert's Land in 1870 as part of its new Northwest Territories. The District of Alberta was formed within the Northwest territories in 1882, near the end of Campbell's administration, and it was given provincial status in 1905. Samuel Drumheller surveyed what became the self-named town in the badlands of east-central Alberta in 1911; a geologist in search of coal seams found the 1st dinosaur fossil in the Red Deer valley in 1884, and at the end of the 20th century the quantity of fossils led mayor Phil Bryant to erect the fiberglass and steel "World's Largest Dinosaur" (actually more than twice as large as an actual Tyrannosurus rex, which inhabited the island continent known as Laramidia that existed 100-66 million years ago).
ReplyDeleteGordon Lightfoot, with more than 200 recordings and 16 Juno Awards, is often referred to as Canada's greatest songwriter. He began his solo recording career in 1962 and achieved some success in his native Canada and his compositions began to be recorded by other artists, especially Ian and Sylvia. In 1966 his debut "Lightfoot!" album was released and he became one of the 1st Canadian singers to achieve success without permanently moving to the US. In 1970 his song "If You Could Read My Mind" established him as an international star. In 1971 he encountered a lonely teenager on a bus, which led to his writing "Alberta Bound." It appeared on his 1972 album, "Don Quixote."
Sign said 40 miles to Canada
My truck tore across Montana
Ian Tyson sang a lonesome lullaby
And so I cranked up the radio
Cause there's just a little more to go
‘Fore I'd cross the border at that Sweet Grass sign
I'm Alberta Bound
This piece of heaven that I've found
Rocky Mountains and black fertile ground
Everything I need beneath that big blue sky
It doesn't matter where I go
This place will always be my home
Ya I have been Alberta Bound for all my life
And I'll be Alberta Bound until I die
It's a pride that's been passed down to me
Deep as coal mines, wide as farmer's fields
Yeah, I've got independence in my veins
Maybe it's my down-home redneck roots
Or these dusty ‘ol Alberta boots
But like a Chinook wind keeps comin' back again
Oh I'm Alberta Bound
This piece of heaven that I've found
Rocky Mountains and black fertile ground
Everything I need beneath that big blue sky
It doesn't matter where I go
This place will always be my home
I have been Alberta Bound for all my life
And I'll be Alberta Bound until I die
Oh it doesn't matter where I go
This place will always be my home
I have been Alberta Bound for all my life
And I'll be Alberta Bound until I die
Thank you for publishing my poem Alberta Bound (V2).
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