In life, Dr. Darren Markland was inspirational.

In death, he is heartbreaking.

The Edmonton intensive-care unit physician died in a bicycling accident near Nordegg last week.

The outpouring of public grief is remarkable.

Prime Minister Mark Carney eulogized Markland, turning his life and death into a national story.

A crowd mourning Markland gathered near the legislature Friday. His story reached as far as a CBS affiliate TV station in Kansas.

Markland’s voice is stilled just as Alberta’s health-care system enters a fall flu season that experts say will bring genuine crisis.

But the heart of grief and sadness over the distinguished doctor’s death, I believe, is his poetry.

Markland didn’t just save lives and annoy the government with his tweets about the state of health care. Other

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