CAPTAIN TILLY PARK, QUEENS, SEPTEMBER 2001

‘The park is named for Captain George H. Tilly, a local son of a prominent family who was killed in action in the Philippines while serving in the Spanish-American War, and a monument to the war is prominent in the park.’ New York City Department of Parks & Recreation.

From the park’s Memorial Hill one can see

Manhattan, and the World Trade Center’s

Twin Towers. Below, this Labor Day

early evening, the benches round Goose Pond

are filled with families – Sikh, Jamaican,

Hispanic. Annually this season

the water is the colour of  jade –

insecticide to kill mosquitoes.

George Tilly was killed by Filipino

freedom fighters. His family owned the land

the park is built on. They used the acres

for flocks of ducks and geese – when Empire City,

seen from rural Queens, was like somewhere

in the clouds. The air, this gentle evening,

is filled with music and barbecues.