"THE TWIN TOWERS"

Will Franz

Did you see that?

Did you hear that?

They're gone!

Both of them!

Gone...

The glory of the morning sun,

Glinting brilliance off glass and steel,

Long, twin shadows reaching across the evening plaza...

Twenty-seven years of pride and achievement,

And hope.

Years to conceive,

Years to build,

Moments to destroy,

An hour to fall...

First one,

Then the other,

Gone, all gone.

Oh, what hate has done...

Killing the future,

The roar, the explosions,

Showering remnants,

Fire and smoke,

The sirens, the alarms,

The rumble and the horror,

The horror from the sky,

The horror on the ground,

The horror in our hearts.

Unimaginable, unbelievable,

Unforgettable...

The stares, the sobs,

The shouting, screaming, the burning.

Bodies, alive,

And not,

Jumping, plunging,

Plummeting, smashing...

Lifetimes cut short in violent, cascading death,

And bloody murder.

Predacious clouds of roiling, choking debris,

Pursuing spectators become participants,

Through the canyons of the city.

The dead,

The missing,

The lost,

The alone,

Fragments...

Those never to be found,

Never to be seen, heard, touched,

Again...

The fear of what is to come,

Where are we now?

What can love do but weep,

Then wipe away the tears,

And be strong to begin again?

But we will never be the same again.

Take my hand.

The world will never be the same again,

Never...

Copyright 2002 William Franz