Market Square - poem

1942 Brownsvlle, Texas at Town Hall-Market Square -- Arthur Rothstein colorized photo

Market Square, Waiting

by J.P. Stillwater

Before the music arrives,
the square remembers.

Wooden tables once held the weight
of oranges, cabbages, onions still cool with dawn.
Coins changed hands.
Stories changed languages.
No one asked which side of the river a voice belonged to.

Here, the ground learned footsteps
before it learned pavement.
It learned laughter before parades.
It learned patience.

Soon, ribbons will lift into the air,
skirts will turn,
boots will strike time where wagons once paused.
But even then, beneath the celebration,
the square will still be working—
holding memory steady
so joy has something solid to dance upon.