Mother

Like a city you are alive
Like this beautiful island you surround yourself
In tears and song
Festivals in your eyes
And your heart is a mountain

Like Montreal you dream of winter
And explode in summer
Your seasons move swiftly

Your smile is wealthy
And your hand cannot hold
Birds and traffic moving north and south
You dream of wolves and bears
Like these streets you remember them
And when you climb into the mountain
Your words are a thousand nations
Your thoughts creative conflict

I am but a neighbourhood
Born from your drive to be alive
Without your gentle hand
Without your government
Without your breath
Without the bread of your womb
The wine of your tears
The spice of your words
The markets of your mind
The traffic of your life
The temples and the strife
I could not
I would not
I am not
How do I begin?
How do I dare describe
The thanks I owe you?
The love I do not show you
Is self-evident

Does the bird need to tell the skies?
His love is manifest when he flies
Nothing in me could be without your love
And how can a fish be worthy
Of the ocean?

Yet if it honours you
And soothes your soul
If it moves you
I will stand on the roof
I’ll take to the streets
I’ll blister my feet
Proclaiming the truth
That I love you
So deeply
I love you so widely
I love you so wholly
For who cannot see
That the body that holds me
Is the proof
Of love
Flowing through the blood of me
From you?

Were we ten thousand miles apart
How could our bodies part?
My note and yours are one
They join when they are sung

What more to say?
You are the sun
I am your ray
When I shine
It is your day