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FIND THE STRENGTH
© Steve ([email protected])
~My tribute to 9/11/2001~
There's a secret rage burning in our hearts
That civilized people can't speak out loud.
We've been hurt to the deepest depth
Turn Afghanistan into a sheet of glass.
It's anger smoldering beneath the surface
A generational rage.
We've been attacked on our homeland
We cannot simply "turn the page."
De-sensitized by media fiction
There seems to be no remembrance.
The attack on the Twin Towers was real
Not an MTV music video.
Still people turn away from each other
The class struggle continues unabated.
Profiling police of a higher level
Turn their attention to us all.
The towers fell! Did you see that?
And horror filled the air
Revenge is ours. We'll get the cowards
That stole our innocence.
Now one year later, some time has passed,
I pass you on the street.
You're still asking for nickels and dimes
The same raggedy shoes on your feet.
I ride with you on the bus downtown
The anniversary nears.
Will this be the day that I don't come home?
Is my daddy safe from harm?
Those fireman, police, and Port Authority people
Rushed into tower one that morn.
As towers both came crashing down
New heroes that day were born.
With friendship so very few confide
One man in a wheelchair
Did not die alone that day
A friend, with his life, stayed there.
We saw New Yorkers running
Looking back over their shoulders
Chased by the billowing cloud of debris
And ducking into alleys.
We prayed for the people as they came down the stairs
We prayed for those going up them.
We prayed that many lives would be spared.
We prayed that it would soon be over.
The news broke in of another flight
Somewhere in Pennsylvania
Another flight has crashed somewhere
In a field. Now a field of honor.
The Pentagon has been attacked
A fourth plane crashes, burning.
My God what is happening to us all?
"All flights in the United States are grounded."
Moments pass. The replays continue
To show the carnage.
The towers struck, first one, then two,
Then to the Pentagon.
The images are played again, and again the horror fills
The hearts and minds of Americans
Our friends are watching to see
The reaction, the stance we must assume.
Brothers, fathers, mothers, daughters,
Sisters, uncles, aunts,
Grandmas, nieces, nephews,
Grandpas, husbands, wives.
Christians, Jews, Hindus, Quakers,
Catholics, Buddhists, Moslems,
Atheists, Shintos, Pagans,
Heathen, Wiccans, Taoists, Adventists.
CEO'S, and CFO"S, their secretaries, too.
Brokers, bankers, traders, tellers.
Janitors, maids, servicemen, copy clerks,
Mail handlers, food service folk, IT Technicians.
The pain of loss is greater still
When seemingly senseless.
"What could have been done to prevent this?"
Hind sight is 20/20.
Each generation, it seems, somehow gets a scar;
World Wars 1 and 2, Korea, Vietnam,
The killing of President Kennedy,
Desert Storm against Saddam.
Forget not the atrocities.
Forget not the horror and the rage.
They are part of you now, and you must somehow,
Find the strength to "turn the page.
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