From a safe harbor, miles from the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and the skies above Pennsylvania, I watched with feelings of intense grief, sorrow and anger as the unthinkable tragedy of September 11th unfolded. I felt a burning desire to paint a picture of that day in words. Words that could describe pain and resilience and reflect the light of hope still burning, as epitomized by the symbol of the Statue of Liberty. I found those words deep within my soul and, thereafter, the words to hundreds more lyrical songs.
I knew the world, in some respects, would never again be the same – a world that could be, at choice, a journey of travel and adventure where every new face and personality could be met with open interest and, at times, unguarded curiosity – a world that seemed to operate with an unspoken understanding of the value that most all men, except the crazed and historically fanatical few, place on a human life, their own included. The world did change that day, out of the necessity to protect and deter. On September 11, 2001 I saw two towers rising from the ash of tragedy as the light of thousands of individual lives was extinguished. It is to their lives and their spirits that I dedicate this poem, “Twin Towers”
I saw two towers rising from the ash of tragedy
One overflowed with sorrow but awoke nobility
The other filled with courage with resolve to serve and fight
Picked up tools of fallen comrades as it focused all its’ might
Their foundations were enduring faith – the patriotic core
Of all freedom loving people extending far beyond our shores
It lived in fallen heroes who for duty and mercy gave
Their lives a lasting tribute to the giving and the brave
I stopped to glance behind me then gazed on with altered goal
I knew the unimaginable had touched my very soul
An infant new millennium – faint few months into life
Lie bathed in blood – baptized with ash and rising from the strife
In an illustrative miracle of the spirit of humankind
Every race creed and religion joined to nurture and to bind
The wounds of the afflicted – sorrow of a thousand fold
They pledged to build a better world devoid of terrors hold
I still see two towers shining as they never shone before
The arms of Liberty extending in a welcome that endures
Can you see those towers standing beams of light upon the shore
The arms of Liberty extending in a welcome that endures
Copyright 2002 Adrienne Bradshaw Farmer