In 1603 Samuel de Champlain lead an expedition to the New World and described Nova Scotia as Arcadia, a place of rustic innocence and simple, quiet pleasure. No phone, no cell or internet, simply the call of loons under starry skies. My daughter and I spent three long overdue idyllic weeks where time stood still. Greeted on arrival in HK by T8 and confined to a hotel room, the lake is so very far away. Only 4 days left in this chrysalis.
Primeval forests stand untouched since time began.
An ageless land, and changeless,
A land fast-held by sea on every side,
god's country yet unspoiled by man,
A land to love, to know by heart.
Clouds sit upon a nearby hill.
White storm clouds, feathers, the gossamer of fog.
Fields stretch from sky to sky
with farmlands lush and rolling,
Quiet cattle, stolid barns,
And then the sea!
A corner turned and there it is
Beyond the rocks, below the cliff
With boulders huge as whales and smooth
from tide and spray and ocean fog,
With houses perched between the rocks,
Atop the rocks and everywhere,
A helter skelter barren town,
A village clinging to the hill
As old as time, unchanged by time.
The clock runs back, and this today
Is centuries past, yet here and now,
How can this tine sea bound land
Hold so much beauty in its lap?
The sun is full and warm and bright,
The night is cool and filled with sound,
And fog comes in, a curtain chill,
And you can breathe,
In Nova Scotia. - Orcelia Birge Winn