BYTOWN 1989

            Celebration time!

            100th anniversary of the

            now under a different name

            Bytown Municipal Fair

            Squadrons of balloons

            ride a humid August sky

            while below

            our spirits mingle

            with the ghosts

            of carriage and trolley

            now paved

            the Parliament view

            And gifted once more

            with finite rays

            our minds easily taken

            from the greys of civil service

            to a perennial site along

            Colonel By's timeless canal

            now called

            Ottawa Exhibition

            And while some tourists gripe

            how limited the nightlife

            we cackle among ourselves

            at the low rate of crime

            how we'll happily spend

            the rest of our days here

                © 1989  Chris Sorrenti