Remembering 9/11/01

September 11, 2001

I cannot weep.
For if I start,
I do not know that I can stop.

Oh God, the horror.
The unbelievable horror of it all.

A confused call from my daughter, a plane has hit the Empire State building.
I fumble with the remote
Trying to find CNN.

And the live shot of the second plane.
Not the Empire State but the World Trade Center.
The fire, the falling debris,
No, I know now, not just debris,
People amid the glass.

Some were blown out by the crash, but some jumped.
A psychiatrist said
It was an act of control.
They knew they would die so they choose the manner of it.

The numbers numb us.
Were it an earthquake in China
We would say a silent prayer
And go on.

Be we watched
The buildings fall,
As it happened,
As thousands died.

I dare not cry. I could not stop.

©PKGibson 2001