As 9/11 approaches, I struggle to piece together my disjointed thoughts about what that day meant to me and this nation. All the words have been said and all the feelings articulated in so many venues. That day changed me as it did you. It caused great introspection of my religious values, my political beliefs, my outlook on life. It still does to this day.

On this 10th anniversary of one of America’s darkest moments, I decided to try to weave these thoughts into some type of poetic form. I hope you get something from it, as I did writing it. Maybe comfort, maybe understanding, maybe just reflection. But join with me in honoring those brave souls whose lives that day forever changed or so unjustly ended.

Buildings burning

Faint hopes yearning

Suspension of reality

From devastation totality

Find small relief

From incalculable grief

Understanding so little

This horrific transmittal

Sent from on high

Through transparent sky

From hate obscure

We will inure

To bitter facts

And heinous acts

This terrible deed

Some heroes breed

In harbor kept

Our lady wept

But torch still shining

Our will defining

We have not cowered

Nay, now empowered

This testament of love

To those fallen from above

For them we cast our lot

Memorialize this spot

Now bellow we world

With stars and stripes unfurled

To salve the brutal sting

Say all, “Let Freedom Ring!”

See now the Phoenix rise

And claim its vaunted prize

Of liberty still strong

Among the faithful throng.

Al Hood – Sept 2011