November 5, 2023
With this time of honoring war veterans, I like to think of many kinds of heroes. You might be one of them. Today’s poem by a Guelph poet highlights John Tumpane, who rescued a stranger on a bridge. (Space limits printing the entire poem.)
This challenging story
I am about to deliver,
took place high above
the Allegheny River.
On the Alberto Clemente Bridge
was a scene with a troubled woman,
a woman on the edge.
With a burden so heavy,
trying to silence the pain,
this also led her to meet
Mr. Tumpane.
(As an umpire for Major League baseball, John Tumpane added compassion to his ability to assess a situation and make the right call. He was able to grab her and keep her from jumping off the bridge to her death.)
The poem ends:
So, if you were on the bridge,
what would you do?
Would you look the other way,
or try to help too?
Because a bridge can be a part of someone’s last inning
or
It can be a brand-new start of a brand-new beginning.
From the book “Insights” by Richard Elmes.
Available on Amazon
