Blessing of the Sugar Bush

Blessing of the Sugar Bush 

Maya Venters

After Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté’s “Blessing of the Sugar Bush” (1914)

The mauve of early winter mornings cloaks the forest.
A junco choir trills and a wedge of geese flies by. 
The sun beams through arched boughs, flicks off a golden cross,
and warms the sugared waters flowing through the sapwood. 
And in the midst of this, a liturgy begins.

The labourers are few and sleepy from the night's
long burning. Still, they lead the quiet processional,
perspiring underneath their beaver pelts which smell
of sweetened smoke. The bundled altar boys protect 
wax candles from the breeze with stiff and sticky fingers. 

The curé lingers, throwing holy water. His
cheeks rose, his glasses fog, and clouds of air escape 
his lips in prayer: que la récolte soit abondante.
The sun glints off the snow and lights his Easter cope. 
Roots offer up earth’s elements for transpiration. 

And far behind the pack, a fragile man who passed
along this land hangs back. The tree he knew from seed —
too delicate to tap — has cracked along the base. 
He sticks a finger through the gap and draws out sap
and knows from his first taste this season will be sweet. 

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Maya Venters
Poet & Artist

Maya is a Canadian writer and artist. She is an MFA candidate at the University of St. Thomas (TX), where she holds a Scanlan Fellowship. Maya has published in The Literary Review of Canada, Modern Age, and The South Shore Review, among others.

Painting by Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté’