A Rite for Mississauga – Anna Yin (Mississauga’s First Poet Laureate)

here rivers run,
fresh water bearing native names, ebbing
tribes’ legacy, rushing salmons’ journey,
carrying canoes and fur trade tides…
from the Canadian Shield,
sweeping their buried past,
through hills of red soil,
proceeding their sailing dream,
blessing trees, joining villages, birthing peoples,
sometimes weeping, sometimes singing,
making their way to Lake Ontario.

here automobiles stream
lighting up long highways, glimmering
risen roads and rolling along railways,
shipping food and goods east and west,
loading harvests from past and present,
transferring wealth south and north,
breeding and brightening living essentials.

here rivers of information and transformation harbor
holding knowledge and imagination,
trending economics, pushing innovation,
stimulating the width of intellect,
streamlining history and mystery,
bringing vision and experiment,
illuminating our minds as volumes in libraries,
sprinkling arts and wonders upon civic life
spreading beauty and peace to the public

here is the city of Mississauga,
the people at the Great River Mouth,
a hub of more than 750,000 drops of water,
each reflecting its own color and light,
each bringing its own virtue and wisdom
together cascading this rite of river
together carving landmarks
together embracing adventures,
together welcoming worldwide change –
ripple after ripple
wave upon wave

 

Anna Yin  2016/06/10