9 11 + 5

Being a Renaissance man, I am also into Poetry. Here are a few poems I found at allpoetry.com

September Eleventh Remembered





Sentiments
Erupt
Painfully
Today
Emotions
Memories
Barbaric
Event
Remembered

Everyone
Languishes
Evermore
Vexed
Envisages
Numb
Totally
Horrified

Reasoning
Extraordinary
Most
Equate
Money
Based
Enthusiastic
Rationalism
Execrable
Dispersion





September Eleventh Remembered


Without Them
by Dalaney34 on Sep 11

It feels like...

your heart is on fire,

filling your body

and mind

with thick black smoke,

pain so intense

it makes you choke

on tears simmering

in the heat of sorrow.

It feels like...

there will never be

a tomorrow again,

and you try

to understand,

why you are still alive

with grief so strong -

how can life

go on without them?

Pretty intense........

That picture at the top hangs in our home. It was taken on Sept 8th. Three days before the attacks by a businees associate at the time. He and his lady friend were touring NY on the circle line. It is a fine representation, and a reminder of a time before War on Terrorism.

Of course, I, like everyone else remembers what they were doing five years ago. It is the same as those who were around when President Kennedy was shot. Time stops for a day, and every lives in the moment and is present for every event of the day.

I was living on the East Coast, in New Jersey, and remember starting my day early. I was in the car driving to a wholesaler to pick something up when the news came over the radio that a plane had hit the world trade center. I thought that they were talking about a small Cesna plane, or a small private plane like that. It was not until I arrived at the wholesaler that I heard that it was a large plane. On the way back to my store, More details of the incident kept coming over the radio. By the time I arrived and opened my store, The second plane had hit the Towers. I remember closing the store, and going home to see this on TV. I remember watching the surreal video. It looked like some special effects footage from a disaster movie. I tried to call my brother who worked in NYC to ensure that he was Ok, and my Uncle who lives in NYC, but the phones circuits were all busy. At the time, I was like everyone else. It never occurred to me that the Towers might collapse. How could that happen? I think it was the shock of actually seeing it happen live that affected people so seriously. In the early afternoon, I recieved a call from my uncle. He was shaken, but OK. Then I recieved a call from my brother saying that he was Ok. He was on his way driving into the city when it happened, and had to turn around because no one was allowed into the city. His brother in law, his wifes brother was missing.. He worked for Canter Fitzgerald in the towers.....Everyone waited for news of survivors, but as time passed, hope faded.
I remember turning off the television, getting on my bathing suit, grabbing my body board and fins and heading down to the beach. We only lived four blocks from the beach at the time.... I remember paddling out beyond the break and just floting there.. From the water off the Jersey shore, I could still see the smoke that had risen from where the towers had fallen. I always feel at peace in the ocean. Being in the water gives you a feeling of being a part of something that is so much larger than yourself. The waves that day were average size. Catching a wave is like connecting with everything around you. I stayed on the water riding waves and reflecting until sunset. My wife came to see me down at the beach. We both knew that everyone in the towers were gone. We sat on the beach and thought deep thoughts and talked.
My brother called later in the evening to confirm that his Brother in Law was gone... 23 years old. It seemed so young to us. We had just been at a BBQ with him and his Fiancee' two weeks earlier.
In the coming weeks we went to memorials, and saw memorials for others all over the area. Everyone was touched by the tragedy. There was much saddness, and many tears. Our kids were too young to understand what had happened, even though we tried to explain it in terms that they could relate to.
It is one of the defining days of our time. Its' impact will be felt as long as our generation is alive. Not unlike Pearl harbor for our ancestors.

We take this day to pause and remember those we lost five years ago, and then life goes on for another year.