09/11/2024
Lest We Forget 9-11
By Scott L. Vanatter, poem written 9 September 2011
Everyday evils are often, even purposely,
Forgotten.
Ultimate evil, barely even conceivable by us, rarely
Pierces the mind.
Though it is all around the world. Every day. It's tuned out.
Some other thought takes its place, any other thought.
Attack.
Remember
The day,
Remember
That act.
Never forgetting
The surreal sight,
The first image, that second image,
Unremitting, unreal images,
Unknown questions, unformed thoughts,
Disconnected shock.
Terror, numbed fear.
The horror. The horror.
Shear.
The vulnerability.
And our resolve, our purpose.
Our shared identity.
Lest we forget, (while their)
Hate is strong,
It shall be overcome.
And we shall overcome
Though not through hate, but design and resolve.
Recall the
Surreal planes, the
Pilots and plotters.
This evil, overt act of War.
The towers and buildings shaken
And the world.
Disturbed and awakened
Once more.
In air and on ground
Heroes both perished and alive.
Survivors stumbling out.
Rescuers rushing
In, and up,
Though not returning.
Passengers rushing
Headlong, confronting terror and
Immortality.
Feel
The Fall,
That sinking feeling.
Across a blue sky, the spreading, billowed gray cloud of ash, the dark dust and debris of noise, of pain.
Of death.
Of emptiness.
Again.
Giant, twisted metal shards,
Sharp, jangled angles mark where angels once stood.
A hole burrowed into the ground of a deathless field,
Through crumbled burned walls,
And in the world.
Flags flown,
Heads bowed.
Taking a deep breath,
We stand.
Now
Loved ones
In homes partially empty, but hearts mostly filled,
Are dedicated to their memory.
And the rest of us?
Our culture? Our families?
Our leaders? Their policies?
Dedicated to, and aware of,
Accomplishing
What?
Memories touch our feelings.
Of lives lost -- and some saved.
Of heroes, of evil,
Of that day.
So
Either two hundred fifty miles, or twenty,
Far away, or much too close,
In another ten years, or in fifty,
Remember the sorrow, the sight, the significance,
Remember that act.
Lest we forget our resolve -- our purpose.
Lest we forget our core identity.
Lest we forget our faith, our freedom.
No faded fear
Can overcome
Real freedom here.
Or around the world.
Sooner or later, some day,
The strength of love melts away
Any futile fear.
Think,
In the face of the unthinkable.
Clearly.
Plan,
Honorably protect the innocent.
Re-discovering innocence.
Create,
A positive
Good.
Responsible and Invincible.
Only then
We can get to the place where
We can purposely, productively forget. When
We remember.
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