A Poem In A Park

I came upon a Poem in a Park

And it broke me

It broke me before I read a word

Except the title

For it wasn’t an ordinary poem

And

It wasn’t an ordinary park

It was a park where I came to bury my heart

An unspoken pledge not yet kept

A pledge to history

A pledge to people struggling to survive

A pledge to myself struggling to be born or to leave a mark or to be peace or to something I can’t understand

The park was small

Bounded by busy roads

A bit of green

Amid glass and brick

Cathedral and commerce

Steel and wheels

Made famous to me

As the final breathing place

Of Greg Levy

Who set himself aflame

For peace

It did not work

But he took a piece of my heart

Which I hardly noticed and have not missed

As I have used it so little

He followed and preceded many

Most of whom I do not know

But the few of late

Wynn Bruce

Unnamed person in Atlanta

Aaron Bushnell

Matt Nelson

Have each also taken a piece of my heart

As genocide ravages Palestine

I came here to find something

And to leave something

I am not sure what I came to find

But

I found a book

And a poem

And it broke me

The title at least

Burnt Offerings

Some realities drive us to our knees

And I buried my heart

Where the young man came to meet death