Stand Up! / Debout !

PHOTO: Juliette Sarrazin (July, 2021)

I wrote this text for the spoken word Voice Over (V.O.) in the soundtrack for a public art installation in Gatineau, Québec (Canada). The project was installed in July, 2021 in the city center and was a collaboration between the creative studio Lucion, Tourism Outaouais and the city of Gatineau.

Stand Up! / Debout !

For the land, this sweet land, this Turtle Island.*
For dawn and dusk draping hills, fields, and valleys.
For rivers and oceans that quench thirst and give life.
For distant stars glowing in the darkness of night.
For beautiful Mother Earth, I stand up.

For elders sharing wisdom of many years lived.
For workers whose backs have carried much weight.
For those who would not sit when injustice was lurking.
For trailblazers who dreamed and never turned back.
For all those who came before us, I stand up.

For freedom to let words fly and express an opinion.
For pride in our rainbow colours, shapes, and sizes.
For confidence in our youth to learn from the past.
For seeing through the eyes of another.
For our hopes and our dreams, I stand up.

*Turtle Island
https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/turtle-island