by Jennifer Smith

Created on: May 13, 2009

Heartbeat

This is the moment when

The late great Martin Luther

Declared, Let all men

I'm standing in Central Park

It's early

My mind reels and I try to focus

Last time I stood in Central Park

I was twenty-two

The towers still guarded the city

Children laughed in school play yards,

The bird's song was hopeful

I was safe

Now, I'm twenty-nine

Dark and night

Are not the same

I begin to wail

Because yesterday

I was young

And the world was new

And the grey was just a prelude

To morning

The inside of me was seeded

And watered with hope

The greatest part of me was needed

My heart!

Explosion!

If I had a time machine

I'd push rewind and go back to the streets

I'd create a rally for peace

Hate, sacrifice, illusion, war

All the noises peculiar to battle

Machine guns popping, soldiers falling

Our soldiers, their soldiers, and children running in dust tornados

And

The sound of an ambulance quickens my heart's beat

I know its common, the ambulance and all

I've known crime and injustice

But my mind reels and focusing is impossible

And the city is naked, without its guard

My heart treads the rising smoke

Feels like drowning, except there is no water

No current that pulls me under

Holds me

And I wish I could go back to twenty-two

And listen one more time to the children

The hurried song of birds

The beat of me slowing, breathing fresh air

In the quiet calm of hope.

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