SAINTE-ANNE-DE-BEAUMONT

Happy Feast of St. Anne!

 

While on holiday last year in Canada (New Brunswick) I went for a drive through Memramcook to Beaumont. It’s all very beautiful and on the way you pass through Belliveau Orchards with their wonderful apple trees. Much of the land across the Petitcodiac River from Beaumont was settled in the mid-1700s by German immigrants. There is an old story passed down in the Steeves (Stieff) family about how shortly after their ancestors arrived a Mr. Belliveau crossed the river in his canoe and helped the newcomers with useful, life-sustaining information and advice, one farmer to another, French and German, human to human.

 At Beaumont is Sainte-Anne-de-Beaumont Chapel built in 1842. As well as being beloved of the Acadians St. Anne is the Patron Saint of the Mi'kmaq (Lnu) people, and the chapel was used by members of the First Nations Reserve as well as the French who lived peacefully alongside them. It’s a lovely place and it’s where I wrote this song.

 

 

IN THE PLACE

 

Hey there, are you awake yet?
When you’re done hogging the blanket
Let’s go watch the dawn begin the day
Later, when we get the lawn mowed
We’ll take a drive down the old road
To where the river runs into the Bay
We’ll have a thermos full of hot tea
We’ll enjoy the quiet and the view
We won’t care about the weather
As long as we’re together
In the place
Where we first said I love you

 

Say there, do you remember?
That day back in December
It snowed so hard we couldn’t see across the street
We ate bread and molasses
And watched the storm as it passed us
And made a little fire to warm our feet
The sun came out and the world was covered over
With snow that was so clean and crisp and new
The cold wind made me shiver
Just like that day by the river
In the place
Where we first said I love you

 

Well now, you know what I’m wishing?
That we soon can go fishing
When the ice breaks on the river in the spring
We’ll go when the fish are biting
To a place so inviting
It stirs my soul and makes me want to sing
The beauty of the woods always reminds us
There is still so much living left to do
There is joy all around us
Just like the day that it found us
In the place
Where we first said I love you

 

© 2013, Dale Petley (Beaumont, N.B.)