Page One
TAKE HEART
Dr. Wong, when you looked in the mirror that morning,
did you know you would save Charles Blue’s life?
When you woke during the night for that drink of water,
Charles’ heart was dying on the floor waiting for the ambulance.
When you walked to your car with newspaper in hand,
that paper was not so important as the bill-of-sale
Charles’ great grandfather clutched in his hand when
he bought himself and his wife out of slavery in Virginia.
When you drove past the Oakland Library
on your way to surgery,
you didn’t know Charles’ father founded
the first African American library.
Dr. Wong, you walked into the hospital
to gown-up as you do every day,
as Charles used to walk into the southern university
to instruct his chemistry class --
except the day the Dean told him
if you march beside Martin Luther King tomorrow in Greensboro
you won’t teach here again.
Charles walked.
You went to work that day, Dr. Wong, and tuned another heart,
and now Charles Blue, classical violinist,
plays Bach’s In Dulci Jubilo with heart — his.