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9/11 remembered

Here's something I wrote shortly after 9/11/01. I will never forget the lives lost, the bravery, the sadness, the fear, and the way we all came together for that one all-too-brief moment in time. My heart still aches.


The Frozen Zone


Soft autumn breezes rattle

The first crackling leaves

Dancing in crazy spirals

Across the graying asphalt

Silted with ash

Slick with tears

A surreal montage

Helmets and hoses

Buckets and backhoes

Streaked faces etched in horror

Working, hoping, working,

working

Debris flaming red as leaves

flutters the air


Amid unthinkable chaos,

A stillness grows

Enfolding souls lost

Souls at a loss

The world stops

Frozen in one aching moment

Then another, and another


But soft autumn breezes rattle

The first crackling leaves

And redden warm child cheeks

Hands reaching hands

Holding tight

Holding tighter


and the thaw begins


In memory of those who lost their lives September 11

In hope for those of us they leave behind


--Sue Pelletier, September 2001

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