My Silence Is Homeland Life on Teal River Gilean Douglas CENTENNIAL Silence Is My Homeland I stood perfectly still. . . right across from me, gazing into my face with its deep-set windows was —my home. Silence Is My Homeland Life on Teal River Gilean Douglas Battle Maid Press *0* Whaietown, B.C. Copyright © 2001 by estate of Gilean Douglas Copyright © 1978 by Gilean Douglas First edition published 1978 by Stackpole Books, Harrisburg, Pa., & Thomas Nelson & Sons, Don Mills, Ont., in association with The National Writers Club All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means, without prior written permission from the publisher or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from CANCOPY (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), 1 Yonge Street, Ste. 1900, Toronto, Ontario, M5E 1E5 The publisher acknowledges the assistance of the University of British Columbia. The Gilean Douglas Fonds may be found in the University of British Columbia Library, in the Special Collections and Archives Division. Afterword by Andrea Lebowitz & Gillian Milton Cover art by Brigid Weiler, Whaletown, B.C. National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data Douglas, Gilean. Silence is my homeland Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-9686933-0-X 1. Douglas, Gilean. 2. Natural history—British Columbia—Coquihalla River Region. 3. Outdoor life—British Columbia—Coquihalla River Region. 4. Coquihalla River Region (B.C.)—Biography. QH106.2.B7D68 2001 508.711*37 C2001-910511-8 Published by Distributed by Battle Maid Publishing Sono Nis Press Box 71 P.O. Box 3530, Stn. B Whaletown, B.C., Canada V0P 1Z0 Victoria, B. C., Canada V8R 6S4 www.islandnet.com/sononis/ 1-800-370-5228 Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens This book is for Dorothy, Audrey, Elsie and Susan Also by Gilean Douglas Poetry Now the Green Word Poetic Plush The Pattern Set Seascape With Figures Now In This Night Prodigal Kodachromes at Midday Seascape with Figures: Poems Selected and New Nature Writing River For My Sidewalk The Protected Place Short extracts from this book have been published in the Victoria Colonist, Saturday Night, The Country Guide, Montreal Star, Forest and Outdoors, Canadian Mining Journal, Vancouver Sun, Trails, The Improvement Tra, Literary Florida, The Land, Front Rank, The Young People, United Publications, and The Villager. Thanks are extended to these publications. Contents 1 Home 9 2 The Blossoming 20 3 Sun In The Valley 33 4 The Pilgrimage 41 5 Commissioner of Trails 53 6 High Mountains Are A Feeling 69 7 Now 93 In September 8 End And Beginning 108 9 Wilderness Winter 127 Sources For Quotations 137 Afterword by Andrea Lebowitz & Gillian Milton About the Author 140 About the Book 141 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from Kahle/Austin Foundation https://archive.org/details/silenceismyhomelOOOOdoug