[Sust-mar] The Going Away Party

[Roger Davies]

The Going Away Party

 

Dear Ms. Ambrose, Polar Bear

Mothers, Fathers, and Young Ones:

I'd like to invite you all

to a going away party for the bears.

 

I know it sounds a bit unusual,

but it does seem we should,

at the least, mark the occasion.

 

The bears, after all,

have been with us a long time,

even entering our art,

our stories, and, of late,

our tourism industry.

 

It's been a long trek

from here to Oblivion.

Won't you agree,

something might be said?

 

You, Ms. Ambrose,

are the guest of honour,

as Minister responsible for climate

change, the ice melting from 

under their paws, the empty belly,

the head so heavy to lift.

 

You have said 

that you will do

what's best

for Canadians.

We know you mean mostly

the owners of The Oil Patch,

and the bears 

never elected an M.P.,

watched the Oilers

in their bid for the Cup,

or even sent a delegate

to sit at the Land Claims Table.

 

Though we know their

claim is their lives.

 

Now that they are going away

from what recently and tentatively

we call "Canada"

we might consider

a commemorative plaque

a stamp

or maybe Polar Bear Day-

 

a day  in the hot summers

of the future

when the trapped rays of the sun,

during the interminable time

after the final solution,

shine on the last of the empty ice.

 

Copyright 2006 Roger Davies