Remembering 9/11
Created | Updated Sep 9, 2004
Remembering 9/11
It was a lazy September morning -
The sky was clear and blue,
An early shower had left the air clean and sweet,
And the oppressive heat of August had given way
to warm days and cool nights.
My asters and chrysanthemums were full of buds,
And the toad lilies had started to bloom.
I hadn’t expected them to bloom until the following year.
Clearing the breakfast dishes from the table I remarked,
"Mother Nature had a lovely surprise for us this year."
I went into the bedroom to dress for work.
The telephone rang.
"Do you have the TV on?
Turn it on !"
The first tower fell before I left the house for the five minute drive to the library.
I turned on the TV in my office as soon as I arrived.
Soon, my office was filled with staff watching the small screen.
The second tower fell.
The Pentagon was in flames.
I had a larger TV brought up from the basement for the public.
My patrons are an outspoken lot.
I braced myself for their angry responses .
They were unexpectedly quiet that September morning.
The anger would come, but that morning there was a quiet disbelief.
I watched it until I thought I couldn’t bear it any longer,
But I couldn't turn away. None of us could.
For the fourth time I tried to telephone one of my volunteers.
Her daughter worked in the Pentagon.
Finally, she answered the phone.
"Have you heard anything?
No.
Well, let us know."
The angelus bell sounded in the distance.
It seemed like days had passed, but it was only noon.
I began collecting civil defence numbers and making posters.
Hunting up boxes and baskets to use for the donations that were sure to come.
Anything to keep busy, to give me a sense of control.
But mostly, I stared at the television screen.
I asked why. And wept.
For the dead, random victims, innocent of any crime.
For lost innocence, our seeming invulnerability shattered.
For the also innocent victims of the retaliation I knew would come.
For a world filled with hatred and violence, rushing toward disaster.
It is September again.
Summer's heat has abated.
My asters and chrysanthemums are filled with buds,
And the toad lilies are beginning to bloom.
What is our warning level today? Yellow? Orange?
I no longer weep for the dead, but I still weep.
