A black and white photograph of Mom
on the dock at Lake Minnewanka—
shy smile, stylish dress, young legs.

I like to think she and Dad arrived by train,
Roy’s CPR pass in his breast pocket.
I like to think they held hands in the day coach,
anticipating their future,
excited to be a couple.

This is years before life began to take its toll—
before children, the War, a return to work,
before accidents and other setbacks.

That bright summer day near Banff,
if I had been a stranger strolling nearby,
I would have thought,
What a pretty girl.
What a glorious world.

Keith Worthington