'Tunnel in One Act'
I spy the tunnel's under tow
a blank white space alone
to travel through many layers
far in a dimension unknown
To tell my story is frightful
it's mingled with many tears
from a dark damp place I heard
voices scream with countless fears
"Alright" I said "carry me to the antechamber deep below
hence lift me back with gentleness
from the swiftness of your flow"
Do you guess whom I speak of
are you familiar with her woes?
she awoke me early this evening
entangled struggling with foes
Distressed with twisted madness
she spoke "I will not sustain
his need to use me for industry trade nor incorrigible gain"
Then I heard a simple answer
to the puzzle here at hand
I had to make agreements an
amendment a vow with the land
I received the farmer's permission
I gazed along the water's edge
I checked with old friends nearby
to verify the dredge
To re-create an inventive tunnel
for use in and out of season
I traveled to the forth dimension through time and for a reason
Disguised with ease and simplicity
I followed its natural design
too obvious for men to perceive
no threat and surely benign
I spied the tunnel's under tow
I had to shout to pray out loud
talking to the River out there
is like juggling inside a crowd
Indigenous were the Creatures who spoke with words well timed
underneath there buried where
men fear to be confined
Seen through a glass darkly
a window not nearly known
there in a courtroom drama
they deemed "No more loans"
On this well set stage abruptly
to accomplish a hidden crime
lying lips sealed with money appeared like oxidized grime
Creatures were the Indigenous
each one born from no thing
on a wave I sat aghast to see
her writhing and frothing
Her madness took me further below the sand to let me feel
the results of deeper dredging
she said "was to banish every keel"
From man's ships she pronounced
"their greed was her daily trouble"
her swelling channels bore the evidence of "all their filthy rubble"
"I am sick and feeling poorly
can you not see my demise?
I ask you to choose wisely and please no ships gargantua size!
Let no LNG or jet fuel vapours
disperse fumes and pollution
for surely you will see the day
my anger: will be the solution"
Legends were the Indigenous there they pointed to a door
I nodded as the current came
generously from the River floor
"Oh lift me back up swiftly
with sand from under tow"
I saw blue sky appear
as I was greeted by her flow
'Tunnel in One Act' is not done
it awaits to see the appeal
of women who like bullies
their true colours do reveal
Tangled up in ailing commerce
and a dying economy
eyes do not see nor ears hear
the reason of sound geology
Indigenous were the Legends
and the surest way to find
wisdom from the River and
Ocean is to befriend their kind
It was late into the evening
my eyes now heavy with I sorrow
I brushed the sand and salt away
to see the seaweed I did borrow
I saw an underworld in tumult
with despair I tell this tale
that a power stolen and traded
will make British Columbia frail