PROSPECT PARK

There was a high wind in the park last night:

Sundered tree limbs lay scattered along the path

Hearing wind still whistling through the tree tops 

I watched as their filigree shimmered at first light.

From the brownstone to the eponymous park

Then, passed by spandexed runners left and right

All having left our beds long before the sun’s pale rise

We moved counter-clockwise in the vanishing dark.

Past other early risers - their dogs frolicking in snow

Flocks of birds flitting around a part-frozen lake

Neo-classical park buildings looming in the mist

Onwards to Grand Army Plaza in the dawn's early glow.

We emerge from this skeletal, sylvan spread

(Scene of the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776)

To confront the urbanity of the Plaza

And a vast shrine* to a more recent war’s dead.

Its Triumphal Arch affronts the senses:

Bombastic statuary saluting the Union’s valor 

Atop an arch of fine-hewn stone that stands

Athwart these precious woodland experiences.

* The Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch was built between 1889-1892

 to shonor Union soldiers and sailors who died in the Civil War.