Pointe-Sapin

“We take care of each other around here.”
He said it in English, my neighbour,
but he didn’t have to say it at all.
Looking around, you could see it. 

People wave to each other as they hang their wash out
and get together to fix up the cemetery.
Or gather on the wharf on the first day of lobster season
To wish the fishers God-speed.

They hurriedly cobble together a penny sale
for a family for whom the flame has been an unwelcome visitor.
And you want to be part of that because you know
they’d do the same for you.

“Fait beau!” is how you’re greeted
when you gas up at the Co-op
or when you walk by one of the yards bursting with flowers and fierté acadienne,
with the Deportation of 1755 in the past, but not too much so.

They’ve taken care of each other around here for a long time, these acadiens et acadiennes,
Once because they had no choice, now because they do.
It’s who they are, it’s who they show themselves to be,
without ever having to say a word.