On September eleventh everything changed
Its events brought horror, uncertainty, shame
How can this happen? Who did this to me?
This does not happen! How can this be?
Who could conceive such a horrible crime?
How could they map it to places and time?
Who could plan terror on scales not seen yet?
And then convince others to aid and abet?
We pray for the families of all those souls lost
We grieve and mourn with them - a terrible cost
Manhattans best, our Washington planners
Air travelers, firefighters, and New Yorks Finest
We applaud all on the bucket brigade
Rescue workers, nurses, all those giving aid
Our spirits unbroken, our resolve remains hardy
Take heart in the efforts of this recovery party
Who could enact such awful depravity?
Cataclysmic events of such immense gravity
What makes them unlike us? What makes them abate?
How can they justify such acts of hate?
How do they think? Are they inhuman?
How do we comprehend, normalcy resuming?
How can such evil exist in this place?
How do we find it and give it a face?
How is it born? What makes it grow?
Where are the answers that we need to know?
If Oklahoma was terror, what does THIS mean?
How do we process the images seen?
Our psyches been violated, surely as rape
The devil came in, he got past the gate
And what of the gate, so strong in our minds?
How could such evil get past the lines?
How do we rebuild it - repair the breach?
In mind and in reality - do we have this reach?
Terror walks among us, not to be seen
Procreating evil wherever its been
How do we conquer invisible foes?
This is our dilemma and nobody knows
We lost our innocence September eleventh
Just like our parents December seventh
History repeats but our generation is tasked
With foes unimagined and questions unasked
Our flowers, our poems, our prayers and our candles
Begin to heal wounds, help us get a handle
But what of our children so indelibly marked
Is there a way to get out of this dark?
Our minds need new chambers to store what weve seen
To process the pictures, to know what they mean
To conjure the questions that need to be asked
To formulate resolve, to avenge, get to task
Our world is physically shattered and marred
And something within, so hurt and so scarred
Well heal and rebuild and avenge this we must
Lest we lose yet another valued human trust
We will move forward, learn from this sad song
Draw lines in the sand, not borders but right/wrong
Right will stand together and in memory of souls lost
Well fight the invisible and win at all cost
______________________
Dedicated to the victims of this tragedy and their families.
Laurie Dunn Toronto September 16, 2001 jlrmdunn@sympatico.ca