Pražské Jaro ~ Prague Spring Poem by Jacqueline Czel

It was whispered by staff,
he'd been on the wrong
side of an old revolution,
was beaten with the butt
of a gun and left for dead,
thus carried the permanent
scar on his eyelid but never
spoke about it at all, until
the day I had the gumption
to ask as we leaned over a
fresh delivery of books in
need of sorting & shelving.

He smiled at me, then eagerly
told his pent up story in a free
flowing manner, educating me
about events that unfolded in
the Spring of 1968 and later
that afternoon as silence fell
upon us and the bookshelves
he put a steadying hand on my
chin, kissed me chastely on the
lips & pressed a worn copy of
The Unbearable Lightness of
Being into my open hands.