IN REMEMBRANCE

On September 11, 2001, when the planes crashed into the World Trade Towers in surreal flashes of fire, the smoke and falling debris made it seem like a scene from some science fiction movie.  Now, ten years later,  that tragic and senseless act of death and destruction still sears the soul of this nation.

The history of mankind is replete with the murder of innocents.  Many Americans take pride in the belief that we are a nation founded and buttressed by Christian principles.  Yet, after the horror of September 11, 2001, our response  then, and at any prior event in our history, has the use of military force.  Like some old western movie, when confronted by a real or imagined threat to our “national security” or “political interests” our leaders have called forth the cavalry.  Currently we have openly embraced the use of torture and assassination of alleged terrorists and their families, which we term collateral damage.  Under the aegis of protecting us from terrorism many of our personal rights have been abrogated.  Since that dreadful day the government and media have injected more fear into our daily existence than the “killers” could ever have deemed possible.

Will mankind ever learn that violence only begets more violence?  Is it not written in the Holy Book we extol that “they who live by the sword shall perish by the sword…”  Thus I am deeply troubled when the President of this great nation celebrates the killing of another human being, and many Americans join in the celebration chanting “USA, USA.”  Yet these same voices are silent when the voices from the countries we have invaded, to extricate the source of the terrorism, protest that we are also killing their innocent men, women, and children.

History and a sense of morality should teach us that it is not in anyone’s best interest to rejoice at any human being’s pain and suffering.  By responding to this insidious evil of hate we inherit the insanity of those who seek to destroy other innocents with the flawed belief that such evil is justified.

A belief in Empire fed by greed and a lust for power has led us to establish bases wherever possible.  The result has been a hemorrhage of the national treasure and has added fuel to the fires of poverty now devouring the families of this nation.  For ten years we have sacrificed our young men and women on the altar of war in a useless attempt to eradicate those who would harm us by using the sword – an act the God we pretend to worship has warned us not to do.

Is it not time to end this madness and bring our young men and women home?  Is it not time to destroy the contaminated garden of poverty and ignorance wherein the seeds of evil are sown?  If these seeds are left to fester their harvest will rot and destroy the pillars of civilization needed to maintain life on this planet.

It is with a plea for reason and reconciliation that I dedicate this poem, which I wrote in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, to the citizens of this planet who thirst for a more humane world for themselves and the generation of those who may follow us.

 

NINE ONE ONE

Come quickly, come quickly—

There is great destruction – fire and pain,

Innocent people dying, others fleeing in terror,

Tall towers, a city’s symbol of pride,

Now twisted steel and rubble smoldering

In sullen acceptance of a fate

That decreed their destruction.

“OUR FATHER, WHICH ART IN HEAVEN…”

 

Killers stealthily planned their crime,

Committing horror and shame

In Thy name – they have blasphemed.

Camouflaging their insidious intent

Beneath a cloak of self-righteous deceit.

The fruit of their harvest

Shall be reaped as it was sown.

“HALLOWED BE THY NAME…”

 

There is a rage in the land,

A pregnant theme thirsting for justice,

Revenge crying aloud for redemption.

Unwise men sow cancerous seeds of war

Blinded by debris of hate and avarice;

By a self induced sense of importance and power.

“…THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE…”

 

Come forth you teachers of the Word,

You are needed to sound the alarm.

Little time remains to save this great planet

From the fire simmering in the cauldrons of hate.

Arise you lovers of justice,

Awaken the sleeping giant of conscience;

Hand him the drum major’s mace.

“…ON EARTH, AS IT IS IN HEAVEN…”
There is hunger in the land

For the bread of justice and peace.

Who will feed the hungry and clothe the naked

If a man does not sow a garden of brotherhood?

Who will set his hand upon the plow

Knowing the field he seeks to cultivate

Is contaminated with weeds of greed?

“   GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD…”

 

The tablet of time is stained with blood

Of those who first welcomed strangers from the sea,

Those who came chained to the ship‘s wood,

Those tortured and killed by mad men

Who meddled in affairs with ruinous intent

Under the symbol of top secret,

Justified by the aegis of privilege.

“…FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES…”

 

In this hour of need and confusion,

Tormented by this new burden it must bear,

This nation must seek understanding,

Beyond that yet borne of forgiveness,

To embrace the freedom of forgiveness,

Lest hatred consume its people and render a judgment

More terrible than any horror inflicted upon mankind.

“…AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US…”

 

Standing midst ashes blown by wind and rain,

We call upon our Creator

To answer the prayer of a Nation striving

To renew its shattered soul,

Struggling to believe there yet remains

Reason and purpose for the darkness

Which permeates our present and our future.

“…AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION, BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL, AMEN.”