Mr. Speaker, this week in the House New Democrats have read the works of poets from across the country. Today I am honoured to read “The True Names of Birds” by Susan Goyette of Dartmouth, who was nominated for the Governor General's Award in 1999:
There are more ways to abandon a child than to leave them at the mouth of the woods Sometimes, by the time you find them they've made up names for all of the birds and constellations and they've broken their reflections in the lake with sticks With my daughter came promises and vows that unfolded through time like a roadmap and led me to myself as a child, filled with wonder for my father who could make sound from a wide blade of grass and this breath. Here, in the stillness of the forest, the sun columning before me temple-ancient, that wonder is what I regret losing most, that wonder and the true name of birds
It is through poetry and wonder that we make sense of the unknown and find the strength to face it. And it is culture which truly legislates the heart and soul of a nation.