Meditation On 9/11 Poem by Michael Shutt

Meditation on 9/11
By Michael Shutt

The sky was blue
The country calm
A peaceful time
Before the storm.

And then we heard
Manhattan scream.
We rubbed our eyes.
Was this a dream?

Across our land
We held our breath;
Twin Towers fell
And filled with death.

We watched
Our Knights
Fight deadly fights
NYPD, FDNY,
Marched into Hell
Which fell like night
On lovely day.
So many lost.
Oh, do you see?

And then a cry
Came from D.C.
The fires grew higher.
Oh Say Do You See?
From Washington,
From NYC.
Our best flew to
Eternity.

False Sons of Ishmael
raised a cry
And blackened
Pennsylvania's sky.
Perverted hate,
'Allah Akbar.'
Beginning their
false 'Holy' War.

Doomed passengers
on 93
Worked to inflict
a Righteous toll.
The Lord's Prayer
still upon his lips
Brave Beamer said
'Come on, Let's Roll.'
They sacrificed
For greater good;
Their funeral pyre
a field. They stood
True Patriots,
With blood they won
Respite for
battered Washington.

Then, in despair,
Ghosts from our past
Rang in our ears
With words that last:
F. Delano 'Fear Not
Fear Not.'
And JFK
'Ask Not,
Ask Not.'
'Do not lose Faith, '
Old Reagan said
While burying
Our Sacred Dead.

Manhattan wept,
D.C. was scorched -
Yet through the haze
We saw a Torch.
Oh say, my country
Can you see
The glorious torch
Of Liberty?
Across our Homeland's
Sorrowed gaze-
A light fought through
The hellish blaze.
And then I saw,
Say, can you see
Our lovely Lady Liberty?

Her jaw was clenched,
Her flame held high,
'Be strong New World
Although you cry.'
'Fight though this night,
Fight through your pain.
Thine Alabaster
Cities gleam.
Your purple mounted majesty stands guard
Oh Land of Liberty.
And though your heart
On sorrow lies
Look up into
you Spacious Skies.'

From farmer's field
And hunter's wood,
Find Strength,
Find Hope,
Find Brotherhood.
Press On Brave Country,
Oh Can't You See
This gentle land
Of Liberty, Your greatness
is not gone from thee.

America,
America,
Be not fear's slave.
Land of the Free.
Home of the Brave.
Sep 11,2012 ·

MRR