Mark David Noble, lyric
lyric
Mark David Noble
our radio was listening to the day, the city, to us, to the possible uniform outcome collected from
people we met, who called us looking for shelter from a bad living lyric they were in again, we
each assumed our part, to try and weave harmony, to bring luster, trust, water and bandages, to
be their answers, our job was to be there when they called, then scoop them up and make it
better, or at least to not let them die, sometimes we failed to frame an answer, to clasp their
none-too-tender requests, their answer more than we could fathom
Benny and I once responded, to the day, to an injured person alarm, in the pool, surrounded by a
chorus, apartment dwellers in stanchion all around, talking, eating, nodding while the
six-year-old floated face down, the common every day bystanders murmured and watched us
clamor into the water, and the still summer evening waited to release its heat into the darkening
west
he did not escape the shade, but we worked knowing he had been there too long, because to the
day, to serve, is to learn how to lose, a life of sometimes simple, sometimes unbelievable,
platter of stories, spoken to us over and over
to my very last day, my favorite call was for a woman named Ida, who was also already dead
when we met, a seventy something retired teacher who had failed to wake one morning, her
family found her, called and we arrived, brought her the lightning, drugs and breath and to our
surprise, her heart returned, the hospital was not impressed to receive our success, asking us why
we did not just let her be, to join the end of things embrace, four days later she was still thankful,
singing and smiling at the marks our paddles had imprinted on her chest. When her family brought her to our station, she pulled up her blouse to announce, look it’s North and South America!
Mark David Noble is a writer, videographer, and multimedia developer who enjoys working on poetry, plays, and short stories. His work has been published in newspapers, magazines, and as lyrics for choral music. He is also a poetry graduate of the CAMP project at The Writer’s Garret, a founding member of Pandora’s Box, a monthly poetry showcase featuring the best poets in the DFW Metroplex, and a retired firefighter from the Mesquite Fire Department.