I don’t remember all the details
Hey, it’s more than fifty years
We drove up from Altadena
through Idaho along the Snake
River to the Canadian border
It was late the border was closed
We slept in the car
first in line in the morning
and negotiated our way to Banff
they’d arranged a room in town
walking distance to the campus
Shirley in ballet I in opera
she was prepared I was not
young nervous shy could sing
but not read music very well
out of my depth and knowing it
at the welcoming party the voluptuous
soprano doffing her coat
asked “Would you like
to pet my fur?”
and I naïve the English major
just couldn’t tell if this
was double entendre or not
stammered “Maybe later”
they put me through my paces
patiently coached in depth
and detail explaining for example
in Hamlet’s drinking song
sa lourde chaine the heavy chain
to pull canal barges a revelation
that everything means something else
and I fighting down the fear
I don’t deserve to be here
they dug out Menotti for me
The Old Maid and the Thief
I was the thief
and loved his aria so beautiful
I almost couldn’t bring it down to earth
and Shirley astounding her teacher
with the choreography she created
for the Seven Deadly Sins
without knowing the title
just absorbed the music and manifested it
Shirley told me how
during rehearsal in the studio
a moose came up to the big window
to watch the girls dance
and another time I strolled by
and saw one of the best dancers
I’d ever seen
the jazz teacher rehearsing
and an opera workshop
where I was Papageno
and the entire dance department
cancelled classes to come hear
Shirley’s husband me
I feeling unprepared somehow
ad libbed an introduction how
Papagena and I were preparing
to feather our nest
I thought it was clever enough
hoped I was in sync with the music
and then the Saturday bus trip
to Lake Louise for the Dance Department only
so I couldn’t go left behind decided
to go for a swim in the river
wearing the only swimsuit I had blue
speedos walking from the edge of town
across the campus deciding that was a mistake
hoped nobody had noticed and then
the river was so glacial cold
I got out right away quickly back
to the room and later heard how wonderful
Lake Louise was I still haven’t seen it
on one of our weekend walks
in Canada’s first national park
Shirley and I stopped to rest
in the lobby of the Banff Springs Hotel
they assumed we were guests
didn’t ask our room number
and brought us afternoon tea
the opera people very kind
tried to find something for me to do
so in the Second Act of Tosca
I was given the silent walk-on
to carry an enormous Bible
on a heavy stand I almost dropped
and then in Riders to the Sea
I was front right of six
pall bearers carrying in the
drowned and dripping soloist
heavy and I tried to hold up
my sagging end and he whispered
“You’d better not drop me!”

And then the opera company
went on tour with Hansel and Gretel
and Shirley renaissance beautiful
they choreographed just for her
the Lead Angel descending
invisible stairs as if coming down
through the air above the sleeping
pair and Hansel and Gretel whispered
teasingly to her “Don’t fall on us”
and she was given the responsibility
of leading company classes on tour
they knew her value
and for me the kind Banff people
gave me the job of stage hand
so Shirley and I could be together
and behind the scenes I pushed
the moveable stage set
the article review in the newspaper
noted the glitch as the cottage
magically moved forward the door
swung open and the audience could see
the blue shirted back of the stagehand pushing
and I said to everyone
“See! I’m in the paper!”
And Shirley had the brilliant idea
to organize high tea for the Dance Department
many over from England
Royal Academy you know
to thank them for the wonderful summer
my job was to baby sit the son
of one of the teachers and we drove
into the back country to pick wild raspberries
buckets full and ate and ate while picking
and picked up fresh scones from the bakery
in town and clotted cream and honey
jams and jellies and fine china cups
we waited on them manifesting gratitude
and they almost in tears it was
they said like home
and are we sure we were Americans
it’s not too late to be Canadian
and in many ways
we said
we already are