Is this the town? Is this the school?
Our Yarrow we dwelt and learned.
So strangely gowned in Mennonite rule,
Tradition bound with sin forewarned.
So trepid we trod 'cross Yarrow's vale
Questing for each Holy Grail,
Praying for peace nor shirking strife,
Vacating hearth — embracing life.

Its present face our memories strain,
Yarrow's changed and changing.
Much like us guests, we ascertain,
We're all changed and changing.
Our parents ranged o'er half the earth
Utopian freedoms thirsting —
From famines, wars, revolts, unrest
Their foreign lands forsaking.

Let's make this day of happy hours
Our Yarrow days recalling —
Scaling Vedder's tree clad slopes
'Bove verdant fields revealing
Streets and roads so clearly etched
Where once a stormy lake lay stretched.
Sumas Prairie cuts that river,
Gravelly waters spawning salmon favour.

This day of happy hours recalling —
Classmates, teachers, parents, friends,
Schoolyard, classroom pranks appealing —
Our better character now transcends.
Present, absent, gone to rest
Friends lovingly remembered.
We've truly done our very best
Our school and town — Yarrow pioneered.

© Elmer Wiens