Where were you? 9/11/2001

Faced with a typical Tuesday morning,
No drama on the workday schedule.
Arriving early in a caffeine stupor and
Ready to tread in tempestuous seas.

The news arrives slowly, trickling in:
A plane, a building, small tragedy brewing.
No thought of terror or hell-bent insanity.
That kind of thing doesn’t happen here.

And then it does –
          A second catastrophe
Man-made in vengeance –
          No logic, no mercy.
And now a third and yet a fourth.
How many furies fly? How many innocents
Yet to perish ‘ere the nightmare resolves?
How many unanswered questions arise?
We watch, we wait, we pray for fair outcome,
But dread obscures hope in a sickening mist.

And then the sky comes tumbling down,
First one then the other in fury and fire.
And the world stops turning as the toll keeps rising.
We stand in stunned silence, shivering, numb.

Our resolve ferments as the dust starts to settle.
We seek understanding but grasp only air.
Today we will grieve seeking out bitter comfort.
Tomorrow the serpent –
          A duty to pay.

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