Book - Life Before

September 11

Hard it came and fast
The news they bore to me
Comprehending it too thorny a task
My mind rejecting the improbability
My heart unable to accept the loss
Staggered and for a moment … stilled

Huge, it was immense, so large
I didn’t believe, could not accept
I cried disbelief and rejected its import
I cast it aside to look for the sun through the dust
But, nowhere could I find the light
Only dark

And still they came and persevered
To impress upon my mind the facts
In many forms to my eyes and my ears
They screamed in my face, until …
I had no choice, but to accept, for it was real

My shield was shattered as the many lives
My heart broken as the toppled walls
My mind scarred as the ruined land
My soul burnt as the flames claimed it
My life changed as the landscape
Now dark with blood and death

I tower no more, I am reduced in my sadness
Crumpled and shapeless, a ruin, the dark grave

And then, a tear, God let me grieve
But she is silent, waiting, watching
For only I may allow it, this grief
And anger, I feel it
Rising, enormous, raging, choking pressure
Again, a tear, please God help me

Still he is silent, waiting, watching
Silently I weep until I find voice and sob
To grieve at last
And to grasp cautiously at life once more
Tiny, shaking steps do I take
I see you there, silent, waiting, watching
Wait, I am coming …

I am here

White They Crack

Sharp they tack, sails on fire
Bursting with light and air, humming wire
White they crack and beat the sky
The rudder bites, they fill and sigh

Stretched taunt, full and rich
Pulling hard, she leans, they twitch
Over to port, the sheets white with strain
Stays strung tight, wind’s abeam

Around she goes, gasp for air
Out tumbles the wind, captain’s despair
Around she comes, the turn is good
And white they crack, tails amuck

To fill once more and test the mast
Taking the strain, it holds them fast
Cup the wind, they puff and fill
Driving her through the westerly swell