NINE-ELEVEN - TWO THOUSAND ONE

Destruction amidst horror reigns,
as terrorists hi-jack our planes,
to wound twin towers of steel and glass,
which crumble to a molten mass.

No Hollywood scenario, this
live script erupts from Hell’s abyss.
The nightmare gallops, all too real;
we’re stricken dumb, too numb to feel.

Gripped in a stranglehold of grief,
we view, in shock and disbelief,
Ground Zero smoldering beneath
a skyline missing two front teeth.

Discernment, in the aftermath,
may calm our qualms, reduce our wrath;
Yet, we affirm, pledge, and ordain
that those who died, did not in vain.

For neither fear nor foes that hate
can toll the bell of freedom’s fate,
while hymns of hope, with justice, rise
to claim the heritage we prize.

-- Helen J. Ewoldsen – 12-11-2001