Welland by Lini Grol

2000

Listen to Welland, read by Lini Grol’s niece, Karin Brenninkmeijer

Once a mere hamlet
watered by the canal,
and sharing its name.
It was dug by immigrants
who with sweating back,
and calloused hands
eagerly staked their land.

And through more than a century
made their little hamlet grow
into an industrial city.
Today, Welland is a Rose City
dotted with floral mosaics
and murals depicting its past.

It has long outgrown its border
by its ever-expanding suburbs
and its huge shopping mall.
But
like a big old tree
the tired heart of the city
is deeply hurt and hollow.

---

First published in Kevin McCabe and Lynne Prunskus [eds.], Lake to Lake. Lini Grol’s Niagara. St. Catharines: Blarney Stone Books, 2000, 20.

Published in Spirit of the Big Ditch: The Story of the Welland Canals in Pictures, Poems and Songs. Compiled, edited and annotated by Robert Ratcliffe Taylor. St. Catharines: The Historical Society of St. Catharines, 2024