City Sketch

The defining features of this northern city,
seat of government of a great land; two historic
waterways, the Rideau Canal, beloved now of
pleasure crafters, and the mighty Ottawa River
of lumbering legend, distinguish this place, with
the Gatineau Hills a background study of this
geography whose organic natural display
boasts the rugged beauty and abundant natural
resources of the country itself. The river spans
its hearty width between two provinces with
their language barriers and cultural solitudes.

This too is a version of heritage handed
down through the centuries. Snow squalls erupt
on the horizon dropping an ephemeral vision of
fantasy over the landscape. The river suddenly
reflects the winter sun's luminous orb; prevailing
icy north wind rendering it impotent to warmth.
Gulls still coast above the rumbled-grey waters,
and a fastness of Canada geese ride the wavy
crests, immune to the frigid atmosphere
on the cusp of crusting into implacable ice.

The Parliament buildings stand stony-grey,
sentries of a democratic federation in this vast
land, stretching from sea .. to sea .. to sea. Where
First Nations people of this land still voice their
unaltered grievances, hoarse from centuries of
repetitive plaints, in living proof and illustration
that to the bold, the interlopers, the advanced and
the powerful in numbers and intent, inevitably
go the spoils and in a spirit of generosity, justice
in discrete measure is now and then meted out.

This city, barely removed from the rawness of
surrounding nature, the geological features of
a vast fertile valley on the cusp of the Canadian
Shield, became like the country, an encyclopedic
display of the faces and voices of the world,
gathered in an endless search by global migrants
for freedom and advantage, drawing on an exotic
display diluting the origins of its nativist culture
in replacement of its Euro-centered spirit.

It is as it is, a compendium of experiences,
traditions and ethnic stirrings. Restively asserting
and demanding and infiltrating and perhaps even
undeniably enriching in a stewing pot-luck of
human endurance, hope and aspirations to
succeed where destiny seemed to lead to despair.
This city, modest yet tinctured with a degree
of bravado in its history, art and architecture,
remains distinct, a construct of what we, in our
need, have deemed it must be to reflect our
entitled needs as spirited and proud Canadians.