That day was a Tuesday, too
As clear and golden and sunswept
And horizonless as this

The day should bring the joy
Of knowing a dreary, drought-filled summer
Is near its end;
Instead it invests itself
With the sour, fearful taste of déjà vu

And I close my eyes and see it all
Again. Smoke and ash a mile high;
The dust of blood and bone;
The peals of funeral bells
At the church a half-a-block away.

I am remembering what I prayed to forget
I am forgetting what I hoped never to remember
But there is progress
I no longer wince at old movies in which
The towers abrade the sky.

I am going to the core, if not today, then soon
I will stand where once I walked
I will look up into the empty sky and
Recall that nowhere else in my life
Did I ride an elevator so high
And never will again

I will snap pictures of the blue chrome tower
That rises now, a symbol of rebirth
To those who took so much, and those who gave their all

And silently, I will give my thanks to
My city and the people who proved
And proved and prove again
They are as resilient as any who ever lived

After which I will go out this morning
And seize this beautiful day.

09/11/2012

Posted on 09/11/2012
Copyright © 2024 Ken Harnisch