A Nation Mourns

The Ottawa shooting.

"Did I hear you say
My country right or wrong
My country oh so strong
My country going wrong
My country right or wrong"

 

My Country

Midnight Oil

1990

 

On October 22, 2014

A little boy lost his father

And a nation

It's sense of protection.

 

As a lone gunman

Murdered Cpl. Nathan Cirillo

In cold blood.

 

One of two

Ceremonial honour guards

At the national war memorial

Before attacking the parliament buildings.

 

Entering the buildings

With little to no resistance

Before opening up

With his hunting rifle.

 

Mercifully

No bystanders died

While bullets rain down

The stone corridors.

 

In the gunfight

The Sergeant-At-Arms

Kevin Vickers shot

And killed him.

 

As the political parties

Held their weekly caucus meeting

Where the gunman walked.

 

Not since

The 1970 October Crisis

Have Canadians experienced

This level of (political) violence

On Canadian soil.

 

Bringing home

The dangers faced

By our military

In a graphic way.

 

Which

Other countries have faced

With deadlier consequences

To its civilian population

Like Great Britain

And Spain.

 

For too long

We have depended

On the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans

To protect us

From foreign threats

Until now.

 

Believing

Canada was immune

To such violence

And hatred.

 

Questions are being raised

The authorities may never answer

To the general public.

 

How this could happen

In the first place

To our federal

Parliament buildings.

 

Sadly

Our sense of protection

Has been brutally stripped

By this person

Forever.

Reviews

[KATHY SUE SILLS]

This was written very well! I could see and feel the pain and sadness in this write!

[therisa]

Thank you, Kathy.

[KATHY SUE SILLS]

My pleasure!

[icelandicblue]

It is truly a loss of innocence and I mourn that for you and for your nation because the genie can never really be put back in the bottle.

[therisa]

Thank you, Icelandicblue. As this happened, I was reminded, of the Boston Marathon, and the tragedy, which struck your city. Saddenly, Canada's innocent was lost, in 1970, during the October Crisis, when the FLQ kidnapped a British diplomat (later released) and a Quebec minister, who they killed.

[Lyn Anderson]

Wonderful poem. So true on all accounts. Disturbing too, the suggestion all terror comes through Canada on a day when the Western world should stand with us and not against us. In 1989 I walked into the Canadian embassy in Brazil with four other Canadians. We had lunch with the women's basketball team and got invited to their game courtside. The Americans, even then, were turned away for security reasons. Now we get to live the same way and practice democracy under more fear and with bigger guns and tighter security. The terrorists chip away at us piece by piece. Thank you for this

[therisa]

Thank you, Kl. I spent 5 years living, in Ottawa (1990-95), so I know the area, well, which was under lockdown. Used to curse the Rideau Centre, as it, at closed at 7 pm, during the week, when I wanted to do any shopping there.

[MomzillaNC]

Poignant questions and observations.

[therisa]

Thank you, Momzilla. Sadly, for Cpl. Cirillo's family, he won't be coming home.

[MomzillaNC]

You're welcome.