Today I am thankful that a full decade past,
I so young and far away should miss,
That burning carnage that lost 2,976,
That ripped so many from normality,
To the dank and crushing rubble,
To the fire that lost 2,976,

Who knew a September sun that ever burned so dull?

Yes I am thankful to be a lucky soul that missed,

I only know what I have been told,
I have only seen what I have been shown,
Through paper or television screen,
So call me ignorant to talk of such things,
But know this, I am glad,
I am glad to be ignorant,
To know now nothing of that cold, cold fire,
That burns, and burns and burns,
The fire that spreads like disease in the belly of those so full of hate,
That had no right to decide others fate,

But remember,
The fire that burns in the heart of those who destroyed,
That shook the Earth in a single day,
Burned too in the hearts of the brave,
Use the rage the anger and the pain,
Use the love that burns and consumes,
Love for your mother and your father,
Your family and friends, love for your children,
Love for your neighbour, love for your fellow man,
Anger and compassion, anguish and pride,
That same fire burned in the hearts that came forth from the destruction,
The best of humanity, to fight, to save, to love,

Who knew while that September sun could burn so dull?
A fire so fierce and bright,
Could find its way through darkness,
And in men’s hearts, ignite.

For most of us
Mortality
Lies quietly in shadow
Discreetly out of view
Though our bones know it’s there.

In the papers, someone dies
Or an aunt in West Ohio
Who’d been sick for such a while
It’s okay in little pinpricks
Punctuations in life’s text.

But two buildings full of people!
Death now multiplexed in concrete
Life and the buildings
Fall away as one
Cathedrals of screams
Vast temples of termination.

We see nothing on TV
But the buildings falling madly
The anguish inside them
Unseen, unheard
As each vertical avalanche travels
To engulf all the beings within.

What’s it like, life to death in an instant
As they merge with the plaster and steel?
Do they sleep, do they wake, do they travel?
Do they see a new view of what’s real?

Will it all be all right in the Cosmos
For so many, terminated so soon?
Do their ghosts inhabit the rubble?
Do they look for the 5:18 home?

Present flips into past every moment
And while mostly the passage is smooth
Comes a time when it happens like thunder
Discontinuous beyond belief.

A tall building’s exquisite order
Turns to chaos in the blink of an eye.
The structures of both families and buildings
Wrench violently, and are gone.

But we live, we who sat here and watched this
Mortality once again for someone else.
But the bones of our bones know better
Death has struck, and will strike again.

Douglas O. Raleigh, September 2002