Nine Eleven : Then and Now

Under blue skies
White clouds, clear air,
Surrounded by star sparkled water,
A people and place
Renewed by autumn’s grace.

And there they stood,
Magnificent in their arrogance;
Reaching above their sisters,
Symbols of commerce
And a nation’s invincibility.

And then they came
In their silver bullets,
Crazed martyrs for a regressive world order.
And they plowed into that magnificent arrogance
And brought it down.

Others came
In uniforms, rescue trucks.
On or off duty, there!
Rushing in to save, to put out fires,
Manage the unimaginable.
And they too were brought down.

Then we came,
Grieving and betrayed,
Yet rising to the occasion;
Doing and giving,
Kinder, if not wiser.
Answering the mournful wail of bagpipes,
We bore witness
On endless funeral lines.
And became a better people.

For a while.

Two Weeks Later
This ferry ride was unlike hundreds I’d taken.
Sorrow sat on every bench.
Silence screamed its presence.
No commuters here,
We had all come to bear witness

Zombie-like we left the terminal.
Still no voices, yet an unfamiliar noise
Assaulted our ears:
Huge generators plugged into the
Heart of commerce.
The smell was of wet cement,
The sight, army tents in Battery Park.

Four deep, we walked the washed sidewalks
Toward the epicenter,
Passed windows coated in the
Grey sands of death:
Passed smiling photos of the missing, presumed dead.
In a dust filled shop two Pakistanis (perhaps)
Watched over ruined merchandise,
Their faces masks of despair.

Putting one foot in front of another, we advanced,
Gently prodded by grieving cops.
And then it was there,
An eerie skeleton,
Diminished, off balance, smoking still,
Twisted steel a stand-in for twisted minds.

We heard trucks removing what had been and
No longer was;
Saw ambulances awaiting those
Who would never need them.
Our only comfort
The commonality we saw in each others’ eyes.

Will it be enough ?

Five Years Later

Here we are today:
Awash in opportunities lost
Cynically divided
Called unpatriotic supporters of terrorism
Should we point out the obvious
Led by shallow ideologues and a
Constipated Congress that lacks both spine and statesmanship.

We have allowed:
Form to triumph over substance
Lobbyists to write our laws
Simplistic slogans to influence when
Critical thought was needed
Science to be denigrated
Fundamentalism to hold sway
Fear mongering to win.

The question has become:
Do we have the wisdom or the will
To work for the broader public good
(Assuming we still know what that means)
Take honest stock of the effects
Of capitalism as Holy Grail
Plan a future worthy of the legacy
Of our founders
Participate in our democracy
As the responsibility it is
Call to the fore, by a renewed sense of purpose,
Leaders and statesmen worthy of the titles
Rediscover our commonality
And again, become a better people?