A Poem For Canada Day 2018 Or Canada Has A Welcoming Veranda Poem by Gayathri Seetharam

A Poem for Canada Day 2018 OR Canada has a welcoming veranda
-Gayathri B. Seetharam
Canada under Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister
Has sent peacekeeping forces to Mali
And seeing the soldiers on CBC's The National
I was reminded of a Remembrance Day in 1994
When our professor of the course, Momentum, Heat and Mass Transfer I,
Had taken us to a World War II memorial on University of Toronto premises
We maintained a minute of silence
For fallen heroes, their fortunate comrades
And some others unfortunate to have been irreversibly hurt
And others who suffered an injury that left them mentally fragile;

Researching on the internet yesterday,
I heard a song from the 1930s and 1940s,
An irresistible song which Margaret Atwood in her poem, Siren Song,
Has termed a boring song also
For as I interpreted, if a war song is an irresistible siren song
Then it celebrates war which is boring although inevitable and inescapable sometimes;

The song went this way:
"All the girls love a soldier and a girl who loves a beret…….
All the girls love a soldier and a girl who loves the right man……………."
And I am the girl (a woman, of course)who thinks the world of Justin Trudeau
Who is the right man as PM of Canada
Who has made the right decision
Although it must be hot, both temperature and situation-wise, in Mali, for the peace keeping forces;

Although born Indian, I have become a "girl of the north country"
Which is "north of the 49th parallel"
Where I had the good fortune of residing for almost 2 years
And I imagine the Canadian spirit saying Leonard Cohen's refrain,
"Dance me to the end of love",
And I, a warm blooded creature, who thinks the world of Canada
Am wont to say that it is endless love
If the maple tree exhibits luxuriant growth all around and all year round;

Under Justin Trudeau as PM, Canada has realized
Feminism is optimism
And this line of thought brings serenity to PM Trudeau's masculinity
And this makes feminism and masculinity
A merging of different religions;

Adapting Bob Dylan's style of writing for this Canada Day in 2018,
I say: The Times they are a-changin'
Come countrymen
Throughout the land
Come friends and foes
Embrace new trends and let go of your woes
And don't always criticise for it makes you look wise
"Your old road is rapidly aging"
And the road promising a change covers a wide range
And the bridle path which gets rid of the foes' wrath
Hath promise of increasing math in the fiscal economy
For the times they are a-changin'.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Please note: The Oxford English Dictionary says: a bridle path is the right of way for horse riders and thus, walkers can go along this way also. It could be considered (if for horse riders alone)as people who ride fast.