Mr. Speaker, to mark National Poetry Month, I would like to read a poem entitled “Aliénor” written by Herménégilde Chiasson, who lives on the Acadian peninsula and has a Governor General's Award for poetry. It goes as follows:
I will be with you. You will be with me. I will look ahead. You will look behind. And together we will see how far our world stretches, How great our riches are. No more will what is ours be taken from us, No more will lies be told about us. We will not be sold like slaves. We will willingly go into the forest And emerge bathed in light.
And my children will walk in that light. Will play in that light. And their lives will be their own. For ages. Forever. Their own. Life is all we will share now, All that we possess, our only revenge. I will forget the forest, yes, The rain, the cold and the snow, yes, But do not think that I will forget the beating of your heart,> The words you breathe, The warmth of your arms.