An Island can mean many things

Photo: Dry Island at the buffalo jump of the same name

An island is a strong metaphor.

In the case of Elk Island Park, it refers an island of sanctuary where wild animals -- elk, moose, and bison -- live off the land without fear of being disturbed by hunters, farmers, developers, or urban sprawl.

Dry Island Buffalo Jump is another kind of island: a formation left by the last ice age when all the land around it was scored by glaciers. This "island" contains pre-glacial grasses that grow nowhere else in Alberta.

An island of sanity, an island of quiet, alone on a desert island, an island in the sun. The list goes on.

Yet though many use the island metaphor, not all agree on its meaning. While the poet Donne

tells us, "No man is an island," a well-known love song suggests that "Islands in the stream" represent love and togetherness.