Jumper

On the way to work this morning.
On the street where I'm employed.
I saw people and police cars.
Street was blocked. A squad deployed.

I asked a policeman what had happened.
He said he really couldn't say,
Only that I couldn't pass there.
I'd have to find another way.

And that is when I saw the body,
Laying face down on the street.
Behind a car that had been parked there.
All I saw were legs and feet.

How could such a thing have happened?
Was he someone that I knew?
These thoughts continued to absorb me
As I crossed the avenue.

From my window on the fourth floor,
I could witness the whole scene.
Policemen talking, taking pictures.
The body still and so serene.

He must have jumped or maybe fallen
Off the building just next door.
Twenty seven stories downward.
To the concrete pavement floor.

On his way down did he look out
At the Great Lake to the east?
Did he think about his family?
Did he feel his soul released?