Don’t ever let the stone-faced visage fool you

Or the sorrow in my silent eyes deter

I would happily succumb just to embrace you

And let the dammed up tears begin to stir

I might shudder in your arms, just like a baby

And splatter wild words against your breast

I might sob for countless hours, or just maybe

I will merely go to sleep and take my rest

I have cried inside at all the great destruction

I have breathed the noxious fires at the core

I have led the frightened crowds without instruction  

And tomorrow, I will go back there for more

But tonight, I need the tenderness you give me

Tonight I need the balm that is your soul

Tonight I need your love, so, love, forgive me

I am lost, and scared myself, and feeling old

But when the morning’s sunrise finds me rested

And when your tender lips have touched my cheek

I will know my weary heart, which has been tested

Will have found the gentle respite that I seek

And when the smoke is vapor, and forgotten

And when the ruined stone is swept away

I will know these wounds were not so ill begotten

And cherish you, who saw me through the day  

09/28/2001

Author's Note: an Ode to the FDNY and the ones at home who kept them going, when all the going was to hell. Written on 9/28/01 in New York City, NY.

Posted on 10/24/2002
Copyright © 2025 Ken Harnisch