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You Can Change Countries Just By Walking Across The Room

At the 45th parallel
a row of potted petunias separates
the longest international border
in the world.

In this parallel universe
one tiny library straddles
two cities – two countries, shares one
Dewey Decimal system.

If

We the People
stand in
the stacks on Caswell Avenue
in Derby Line, Vermont,
and You the People
stand on Church Street
in Stanstead, Quebec, our arms
stretched toward each other, fingers
casting beams of light
onto each other’s pages
cradling the history of our two worlds…

if

We stand
under our shared
neutral sky,
north to south
south to north,
our humbled bodies
forming a cantilever
across the celestial sphere,

perhaps

We can
bridge the great divide across running rivers
falling waters, the rift, row over
potted petunias.

If

We run our fingers slowly
across poets’ spines
where Naomi Shihab Nye’s
Kindness resides…

if

you stay walking with me
through stacks
where Margaret Atwood’s
Lonely Military Historian warns us
wars happen because the ones who start them
think they can win…

maybe if

We cross
this boundary, the longest international border in the world
between two countries, join hands
touched by poets’ wisdom

– and warnings of war –

perhaps We can meet
where Nye offers
Different Ways to Pray.

If We stand
toe to toe
on creaky planks, a line
of electrical tape demarcating
the exact international border
just beyond where
Hughes reassures us
The mind seeks a way to overcome these obstacles

just past
where Wendell Berry
reminds us
We must wait
the slow unalterable forgiveness of time...

then

We the People
can stand
with Langston Hughes
On the rich soil of the world
Cross boundary waters of regret
On the rivers of the world.

We can raise our voices
in the Haskell Free Library & Opera House
and with Leonard Cohen
sing Democracy’s song
And the mountain's going to shout Amen.

Oh, Canada
Oh, Canada.

​

– Linda Belans 2018

​

Inspired by the New York Times story Where U.S.-Canadian Border Is Marked by Petunias, Not a Wall

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