I am the child of silence
I am the child of 1759
I am the child of suffering
I am the child of the Plains of Abraham
Bleeding
In death
I am the child of the wind who stops
At each September 13
In my memory in red
I am a Wandering Canadian
Who walks, walks forever
In my night with no exit
Alone! Alone!
I am the voice of silence
In pain
The Conquest in me
I am the scream gagged
By the Time who passed
And that you never listen to
I am the Acadians deported
In tears, in front of guns
Without dawn and without hope
In front of Death who already waits for me
Under the shrouds of snow
I am the Patriots who passed away
Together
On your scaffolds
I am Louis Riel
The head rose toward the sky for the last time
Before to be hanged
Upright
I am the Franco-Ontarians of Regulation 17
The fingers hit by rules
And orders I don’t understand
In my minority distress
I am d’Iberville always victorious on his horse
Until the darkness and the tomb
The sword broken in the stars
I am the French flag that burns
In white
In the Saint-Hélène Island
When New France falls
Right on my mouth
I am the accent that you erased of Orléans
To forget
I am the child of words from my childhood
Stays in my throat
In silence! In silence!
I am the child of a name
That I cannot even pronounce
Anymore
I am the child of a city
Who takes all my tomorrows
I am the Child of assimilation
When my sufferance
Lasts all a continent
I am the invisible man
At each “speak white!”
And laugh at me
I am silence
I am Frog
I am green and white
I am fleurdelised
I am done
I am from France and Quebec and Orleans
My flag in the wind
SOS Montfort! SOS Montfort!
In shadow and fire
Yesterday
I am French Ontario
There’s a too long time ago
To survive
To just survive
In my own words
In my own life
Until tomorrow
It’s too late for me
It’s too late for us all
Now
I sink alone
Towards you
A last breath alive on my lips
Before to die:
« Souviens-toi! »
« Souviens-toi! »
Frédérique Champagne was born in Orléans, Ontario in 1995, and currently studies French at the University of Ottawa. He has published in the newspaper La Rotonde and the literary review Calembour. He also published a book in 2016, Treize Septembre, that has been edited in France. “The Child of Silence” is his first text published in the Fulcrum.
