something that broke my heart

We'd been walking up in the city that night, basking in the evening air that was almost summer. The cityscape soon melted into the section of town where the homeless congregate on the half-wooden-half-metal benches. It was the part of the city that made my stomach churn. There was always somebody with headphones stuck in their ears, singing at the top of their lungs. Or somebody walking the street, shouting at the world for all their troubles. Always a sad out of tune melody wafting into the cracks in the sidewalk. That day, there was a man and a woman standing on the sidewalk, talking. Homeless and broken. I watched him wrap his arms around her and say
"it's okay, it'll get better."

We walked past them with our expensive cameras and new shoes
I didn't even hear him. His words were repeated to me later.
But when I heard them, my heart slowly broke in two.

-M