Canadian Literature

She trudges wearily
through the snow
her mind wandering
to her loveless marriage
which is a metaphor
for her divided nation
though she is barely
aware of that
because the irony
of her existence
leaves her ignorant
and bound by duty
as an errant
maple leaf
replete with too much
fractured meaning
flies from the eaves
of the forgotten schoolhouse
as the storm grows
over the prairies
and the dinosaur bones
that are not her roots
lurk beneath the soil
of the alien land
mocking the children
of a pastless people
caught in the throes
of political change