"Give me your tired, your poor "

 

 

In this sonnet, I tell the story from the point of view of a taxi driver.

Due to the expansion of the Canada - U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement, the Roxham Road crossing facilities have been demolished.

 

 

Roxham Road

For the families crossing through the woods into Canada

 

A New York Trailways bus has pulled into

its final U.S. stop: the Mountain Mart

Mobil Station, Plattsburgh, passing through

to Montreal, scheduled to depart

at 1 a.m. A family alights.

Retrieving their baggage from the cargo hold,

they huddle with their backs against the night’s

brutal wind and Adirondack cold.

 

I drive them in my cab up to Champlain,

to Roxham Road’s dead-end, a perilous trench

to navigate, a trek through rough terrain,

formalities in English and in French.

 

I light their way and wait until they’ve crossed.

At last it clicks. That dire word. Tempest-tost.

 

 

— Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Québec, February 2017