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.

 

For Those Who Wait… and Weep

It is not just the soldier who goes to war

To boldly face the lost and lonely nights,

Wondering what the next event might stir

In a world where reality forestalls his precious light.

 

Father, mother, sister, brother, precious child

Cherished lover all in one, all in tow

He muddles through the fallow furrowed trenches

Of his mind enrobed in murky hues of faded indigo.

 

And he and she and they who are forced to wait

In silent proxy know his peerless pain,

Cry his tears, feel the deepest fears that fills his night,

That end is near and he will never see his home again.

 

A mother weeps, a father keeps a stoic front

That fools no one – fools no one – no, not one.

Tear-stained letters from a patient lover far away

Whose tender heart’s emotions are undone.

 

They will be with him every step of his travail

As duty compels and he silently walks his keep.

And faith never falters, and hope knows no holiday

For those who wait…

Those who wait… and weep.

 

Duel in the Sand

Some might say it was “not our concern,”

But when humanity meets rebuff

And sovereignty vanishes with the wind,

Someone must stand and say “enough.”

 

The storm has been brewing for quite some time

From cauldrons deep beneath the earth

While tyrants bask in newfound wealth

Without regard for human worth.

 

And now these rogues have crossed the line

That’s drawn from civil decency

To stake a claim and conquer all

In lands extending to the sea.

 

But gainsay forces disapprove

As cannons gather in the sand

And form a fearful peerless shield

To still the manic firebrand.

 

Now brash defiance steeps a tempest

Building to a violent storm

To sweep across the burning dunes

Determined as a hornet’s swarm.

 

But even when the dust is settled

Under the flaming desert sun,

Each side lays claim to victory

And no one knows who really won.