Did You Ever - An Ode to Alberta

By Louise Veres

Did you ever come to the plains of the south or the place of the Oldman Rivers mouth,
Where grain grows thick and green pastures thrive, horses graze and there are cattle drives?
The sun breaks the dawn on a summer morn, and warms the fields of ripening corn.
Calves grow fat on sweet prairie hay, while cattle browse in the cool of the day.
Pincher Creek turbines catch the wind in the spring, if you listen closely meadowlarks sing.
 
Did you ever see the wonders of Banff where the air is pure and the west winds dance? 
‘Neath the mountains high and the lofty trees, lies the precious jewel of Lake Louise.
The air is pure and the waters clear, bald eagles soar and there’s bear and deer.
Close by in the skies of Cochrane town, hang gliders float by like thistledown.
As the Rocky Mountains sweep down in all their grace, there is Calgary at their base.
 
Did you ever come where the dinosaurs lie in the Drumheller valley with its mile high sky?
At the base of Horseshoe Canyon’s floor, lie the bones in the graveyard of the dinosaur.
There like sentinels hoodoos stand, keeping watch in the sun and the heat and the sand.
The badlands with their mines and coal, give way to the rigs with their gas and oil. 
Sagebrush grows sparse and blue and grey, coyotes howl and the antelope play.
 
Did you ever think when the day has begun of the lush green plains of Edmonton?
Parkland farms grow wheat and hay, prize Hereford, Angus and Charolais.
How green the grass, how black the sod, surely touched by the hand of god!
This is where the North Saskatchewan flows and on its bank the Alberta Rose.
You can watch the geese on their southern flight and see the dance of the Northern Lights.
 
Did you ever travel to the north to fish round the clear, cold lakes of Lac la Biche
See tracks and traces of herons and loons, pick cranberry, chokecherry and saskatoons?
Peace River Valley is the “Last Best West”, with the world’s best farmland they’ve been blessed.
Blue flax and canola dot the rolling terrain and columns of combines cut ripened grain.
Summers are short daylight is long, home for chickadees, heron and trumpeter swan.
 
Did ever get up on a wintry night, and the temperatures minus thirty Fahrenheit?
Then one morning in late December, there’s an arch in the west and you remember
The Chinook! A miracle wind blows with all its power the cold is gone in a matter of hours.
Ice will shrink and snowdrifts melt when the warm Chinooks of Alberta are felt.
Then again you feel the north wind blow and you feel the wrath of the ice and snow.
 
Did you ever rise with a heart full of pride and you know that those feelings are well justified.
We came to this land from every direction, and you might say that we’re mixed to perfection.
Included are Kootenay, Beaver, Stoney and Cree - the Blood, Blackfoot, Peigan and Sarcee.
We’re hard working citizens, generous and moral, independent, honest, god fearing and loyal.
Alberta is our partner she’s like a dear friend. Alberta is the gold at the rainbows end.