A small parasite

For thousands of years

Does the tree swallow inspire you?

For thousands of years

Always obeying the same impulses,

when the sun lingers longer above the horizon

the swallow comes to my region,

to enjoy for a short season

this manna that emerges in abundance.

But the habitat has changed a great deal

over the past hundred years.

Forests, marshes, flooded lands,

have given way to

these neatly aligned buildings.

All the same, faithful to its breeding range,

the swallow accepts these lines drawn across its favourite habitat

letting itself be won over by that small structure

which is, after all, nothing but a tree trunk without imperfections.

Sadly, on its arrival

the place is often already taken by that small imported parasite

which the upheaval has favoured.

I have little choice, I must step in

if I want my swallow to come back every spring.

Pierre Ducas

Ste-Anne-de-la-Pocatière

excerpt from the magazine L'Hirondelle, Vol 3 No 2

fall 1995