![[2nd plane hits Twin Towers]](04-ap.jpg)
"I found your site quite by accident.... I was touched by your description and reflections on 9/11. I have a hard time not thinking about it and what it means to the world ... let alone America." -- Margot Malone
These two poems are copyrighted by Margot Malone. They're presented here by permission of the poet for the occasion of the 9/11 memorial -- All Rights Reserved.
By Margot Malone ©2002
Look to me for comfort....
For I was there... with you....
When all eyes turned to watch as Towers fell.
A Lady ... gray, in mourning --
Lamp ablaze with that days dawning...
I welcomed all, I heard the tolling bell.
I saw Twin pillars burning,
clouds of ash, a gristmill churning.
Hapless faces, I watched ... as thousands died.
I looked on ... disbelieving...
At America ... stunned ... grieving,
til'with a thunderous gasp our Nation cried
"We'll not be laid asunder...
By Bin Laden's Blunder....
You've tempered our resolve with savagery."
And the Towers? They're still standing,
And "those thousands" spirits SHINE....
Reflections in the eyes of "LIBERTY."
By Margot Malone ©2002
No one can hide Universal Truths from ANY Soul that Seeks,
But to Humanitarians ... Truth most eloquently speaks...
Of lofty aspirations ... steeped ... in honor's noblest deeds.
And NEVER once will Truth betray ... Mankind's Common needs.
Nor can the best ... in humanities' goals ... be held back ... by suppression,
Nor from its efforts to evolve beyond ... ignorance, and oppression ...
these are minor irritants to Life's determination....
to survive ... Life's own frailties ... through seedlings, germination.
Repression is a barrier ... it bolsters dictatorial control,
Built to suppress Humanitarian Ideals, to disclaim a ... Unified world.
A compassionate, united humanity... two-dimensional minds can't allow ...
So They build sturdy Doors with unreasoning hate, tightly locked for now.
Test these locks with aspirations, with all you hope, and all you dream,
Behind the door, left in darkness ... light reveals what waits to be seen.
So Test ... with mind and heart and soul, and test with ... perseverance
steeled to forge beyond a door's seemingly, solid appearance.
And though colleagues fall before the metal ... of a Millennium's dread
By Unholy acts strung like beads on a rosary, blood red,
The very ... mechanisms wrought ... by The Keepers of the Keys
will rust and fuse against them through their inhumanity.
Though bolted strong ... Time will prevail ... and every lock give way ...
When held by structures rotting with iniquitous decay.
Regardless of the lock itself, though tempered steel, stone cold ....
Embedded in foul Masonry, the finest lock won't hold.
We foster opportunity ... and tend ... grave, ... Sacred Chores
Of beating ... at the rusty locks ... upon All ill-wrought doors.
Testing, ever testing ... until we finally see
The weakness that reveals a lock's ... vulnerability.
WE will NOT be overrun, brought to our knees as planned
By a named, or nameless foe, forcing us to take a stand,
Who'd undermine our way of Life, our monuments, our pride,
Our Institutions deprecate, our noblest goals deride.
And to What purpose all of this necessity to damn?
We ALL belong to the Universe, and the Brotherhood ... of MAN!!
Our inherent similarities call out to us "Unite!"
Separatists and War-mongers won't prosper this fight.
And who would harbor an insidious foe, a foe intent to Kill?
Who justifies barbarity ... in the name of ... God's own will?
And Who would give assistance to a foe who'd harshly smite
What they cannot understand of Liberty and Right?
Truth will not be prison-bound beyond a bolted door,
Listen closely with your heart ... you can hear its growing roar,
Nor access to Truth's tenants can you bar for long...
IT's only Time we must outwait until the door is GONE.
And though endless fells of mortal flesh lay mute, unjustly slain ...
Fragile Witness to terrorist hate, an unthinkable crime's gross aim ...
Beneath the ruination, beneath the rubble and cement
The thunderous silence in the aftermath Screams their testament
These honored Dead ... these Innocents ... Thought Silenced by their slaying,
These walls ... thought vanquished by their ruin ... as we looked on praying.
Both thought Erased ... from Time and Life ... with heartless, cruel deeds...
But no, you cannot erase THIS ... !!!! Their Final CRIES we heed!!
The image ... Towers falling, ... aflame and torn asunder.
This resting place of thousands ... A Shrine ... Bin Laden's Blunder
This twisted pile of refuse tells a Very different story ...
A Flag amidst the ruins ... long may she wave ... Our "Glory."
It is to This ... Our Sacred Proof ... we gird our new intent ...
To this ... clarion ... of Inhumanity... against the innocent.
This ... our mandate ... and Demand ... for a reckoning
Against an ancient hatred, and an ill-conceived cunning.
A stealthy, hiding coward has stabbed us in the back,
And forced resolve upon us ... it Demands ... that we must act ...
No matter the cost in numbers, no matter the cost in tears,
No matter the cost in duration of a process spanned in years.
We Must claim our lives ... and rights ... from this crucible's gray ash,
We must call upon resources to enable us this task.
Think not that we are beaten. Think not we are restrained.
We stand, unflinching witness, defiant, now ... Unchained.
Refusing to succumb to terror's pains, and tortured death
We Cling with Bold tenacity to what's left of Life and Breathe ...
With the rage and indignation of the Gods ...WE'll end THIS fight...
As sifting though our losses ... Grace restores our Right.
We honor humane treatment for All, ask an end to this damnable strife.
We ask you to question ... our point of view, but NOT ... our VALUE on Life.
We seek Freedom's dignity, and Equality for all,
We Reverence Universal Peace. Why silence such a call?
What we commonly can't live without ... even our enemies know ...
Life, Liberty, Pursuit of our Joys, Childhood's Future ... No! No! NO!!
This Humanity ... so long to Evolve ...YOU WILL NOT DESTROY!!!!!!
No matter what you devastate, nor what you may deploy.
We are, have been, will ever be ... a Nation, no ... a Corps
Dedicated to Ideals that some try to ignore.
We are a living entity ... of unity ... and purpose
An ever ready juggernaut against attempts to hurt us.
We are the living, have been the dying, the grieving, and the numb ...
Empowered by our sacred dead, and our progeny to come.
We stand with this conviction, as a Nation ... All for One,
"Ground/Zero TolerancE" for terrorism ... until the job is done.
So, if you think you'll beat us back, if you think you'll win ...
One old country boy said it best ... "YA'LL STOP, FORE YOU BEGIN!"
So Listen hard, and listen well, ... THIS is our Sacred Chore ...
To Beat, yes, Endlessly, EVER BEAT, upon the Ill-wrought Door.