Canada

I came here in the winter of my thirtieth year
Looking for Leonard Cohen or Joni Mitchell
Oh Canada you froze my bones in that first year
I jumped your immigration hoops annoyed at you
My humanitarian degrees meant nothing at all
You wanted scientists with white lab coats
Scientists who washed their hands first.

Nurses were not needed you said and I thought
it was because you all lived under the snow
I do not belong here I know that now I am a misfit
Just another lonely immigrant pinning for meaning
Standing in the shade of great Douglas Firs

I do not belong here I am not english enough
I drive in the exit gate that is my first clue

I was here some time ago on the Prairies
In a tipi before there was a Canada or America
I lived with buffalo wild sage and sweet roots
I just need to find my peace of sacred ground...again