THE VILLAGE THAT WAS DYING 
     
    
   
   
    
     W Lennie Gallant 
     
    
   
   
    
     HaVa you ever heard the sound 
     
     j a village that was dying? I 
     
     [heard it - just last night it was, 
     
     Uke a heavy, hollow sighing. 
     
    
   
   
    
     [heard it in the Legion Hall, 
     
    

    
     In talk of oil rigs and big bucks, 
     
     imnd three more leavin tamara!” 
     
    

    
     lg round of beer for good luck.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     lheard it in young girls' voices, 
     
    

    
     meir yoing men they will follow. 
     
    

    
     Md in the young men's nervous laughter, 
     
     M the jokes got hard to swallow. 
     
    
   
   
    
     It was there in an old man's salty eye, 
     
     it's his last year on the sea. 
     
    

    
     'Six generations it's been,” he says, 
     
     ‘%nd now it ends with me.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     Md in the echo of my footsteps, 
     
     g I stumbled towards my home 
     
    

    
     md paSSed my old deserted school, 
     
     mmty, unfamiliar, alone. ' 
     
    
   
   
    
     m was in the creaking of the signs 
     
     mat swung among the fishing boats, 
     
     Ewing out for t0urist dollars, 
     
    

    
     md a chance to stay afloat. 
     
    
   
   
    
     ks, last night I heard a sound 
     
     w a village that was dying; 
     
    

    
     Md tonite, far, far from there 
     
     Ihear a distant seagull crying. 
     
    
   
   
    
     / 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     , SECOND CHANCE 
     
     by Judy Whitehead ' 
     
    
   
   
    
     Friend of my college days 
     
    

    
     It was defiant then, the sex and fun, 
     
    

    
     But the knowledge of loving you did not come 
     
     and when it are; we had parted 
     
    

    
     The damage was done. 
     
    
   
   
    
     But later and oftener I wanted you there 
     
     to be my friend. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Friend again of'my older days 
     
    

    
     It is joy now, the shared sex and fun. 
     
     We know ourselves and can plan ahead 
     
     We are together, the rift is healed, 
     
     and our love unsaid. 
     
    
   
   
    
     So now you are here 
     
     And as we live, you are my friend. 
     
    
   
   
    
        
     
    
   
   
    
     The Christmas Tree 
     
     by Pat Ingraham 
     
    
   
   
    
     In dark December comes a day 
     
    

    
     With Christmas not too far away, 
     
    

    
     When someone, puffing and cursing it all 
     
    

    
     Drags a naked evergreen into the hall. 
     
    

    
     Then out come the baubles, the tinsel and lights, 
     
     And after some struggling - and one or two fights — 
     
     It glows in its splendour, announcing with cheer, 
     
     “0.K. everybody. Christmas is here!” 
     
    
   
   
    
     And there it stands with its twinkling lights 
     
     Through the busy days and the firelit nights. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Little by little around its base 
     
    

    
     The parcels gather, like garlands of lace, 
     
     Until with the ahwning of Christmas day 
     
     The children descend to whisk them away. 
     
    
   
   
    
     But the tree still stands with its twinkling lights 
     
     Through the busy days and the firelit nights. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Though it slowly fades and its needles fall, 
     
     Its spirit remains to remind us all 
     
    

    
     That again it will stand in majestic glory 
     
     Tb remind us all of the Christmas story. 
     
    
   
   
    
     And next year it will stand with its twinkling lights 
     
     WmmhflemwdwsmdfieflmfitMMm. 
     
    
   
   
    
        
     
    
   
   
    
     Friendship I?” 
     
     by Beverly—Anne Bishop 
     
    
   
   
    
     Shy and unsure 
     
    

    
     they clung together. 
     
     Necessity held them firm. 
     
     To other the confidence 
     
    

    
     to mix and laugh 
     
    

    
     came easi ly . 
     
    

    
     Uncertainty held them back. 
     
     And so, 
     
    

    
     Between them a 
     
    
   
   
    
     .warm friendship slowly grew. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Until with each other 
     
    

    
     felt a calm. 
     
    

    
     Secure, accepted in 
     
    

    
     their web. ' 
     
     Unaware that others watched 
     
     with longing gaze, 
     
    

    
     to have that 
     
    

    
     feeling of companionship 
     
     with just each other. 
     
    
   
   
    
     , Merely two, 
     
    
   
   
    
     without the rest. 
     
     4 boy and girl, 
     
     flung together. 
     
    
   
   
    
     *Dependent on one another, 
     
    
   
   
    
     Shy and unsure 
     
     they clung together.