We remember your role
on the front lines;
will make sure
everybody does.
Your big day is here.
Get ready for the gun salutes;
a flypast by the Air Force;
dignitaries lip-synching O Canada.
And wreaths more elaborate than ever before.
Funny that you mention
our closed regional offices,
lack of resources to treat PTSD,
etc.
We had the money, you know;
just didn’t spend it.
Now we can’t remember why.
Perhaps it’s normal to forget
when you’re a 71 year-old department.
But enough about us;
today, it’s about you!
What’s your name again?
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
