Poems
Emblems
by Cyril Dabydeen
As the mountain was long-lost,
So I came—
You came.
Slab of stone,
Bear-walker
Across a myriad sky.
Here it is not
New York
Or Dutch Guiana.
This exchange—
Blood for
Limestone.
Ontario is all I think about
You see,
Believe in...
Lake Superior at last,
A shale of entrance—
More of it...
Nanabijou too I am,
Asleep
With other legends.
Virtues really,
A pelt beginning
Convincing me...
Who I am,
You are—
We are!
This poem originally appeared in Canadian Literature #150 (Autumn 1996), Urquhart and Munro. (pg. 106)
