Grateful to be Canadian
written by: Kathy Figueroa
When I was young
So very long ago
Many things about my family history
I had wanted to know
Such as what were the languages
My older relatives didn’t want me to learn?
To understand their conversations
I would often yearn
And from whence in the “Old Country”
All my grandparents came?
Were there distant relatives I could write to?
But the response was always the same:
“They died in the war.”
Which war, I couldn’t ascertain
For that region was/is so often marred by conflict
Today it’s Russia versus what’s now known as “Ukraine”
One of my grannies was born in Galicia
In the former Austro-Hungarian Empire
Where bloody battle after battle raged
Like an all-consuming fire
Which left her orphaned.
Such a sad scenario I can only imagine or surmise
And can’t help but wonder if it was like that
Which was seen through poet, Georg Trakl’s, eyes
Who made reference, in his poem “Grodek”*
To the unborn generations thought to be lost
As a result of the tremendous death toll
The immeasurable human cost
Miraculously my grandmother,
Though a child, was fortunate to survive
Thus, I’m not of Trakl’s “unborn generations”
But, rather, most happy to be alive
Once, I called my granny, “Baba”
And remember her swift but kind reaction to me
“Grandmother, you call me ‘g_r_a_n_d_m_o_t_h_e_r’
You speak ENGLISH, you are CANADIAN!”
…And that is what I’m very proud and most grateful to be!
* Georg Trakl was a medic during the Battle of Grodek
- Grateful to be Canadian - July 3, 2026
