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