Tuesday 11th September 2001
The Day the world changed. C. J. Black
Buildings ruptured, planes nosedive
Friends and comrades burn alive.
Mobile call to the one you love
From thousands of feet high above –
We’ve been hi-jacked we are doomed to die
With these words a last goodbye.
It makes one want to shed a tear
When one thinks of the dreaded fear –
The torture that was gone through
By those on board passengers and crew.
One really cannot comprehend
The sheer torture gone through as they met their end.
One also wonders what there is to gain
By the infliction of such pain?
When one sees the terror etched on every face
At the meaningless destruction that has taken place.
As the search for survivors is scaled down
Will the final death toll ever be known?
Where once the twin towers proudly stood
It is suggested that they should –
Erect a monument to those who died
As a solace for those who cried.
On it their names engrave
A memorial – not a grave.
In times of conflict not even the innocent survive.
C.J. Black, First published 2001 Poetry Today ISBN 1 86226 609 3
Just horrific. Even today I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news; and watched the television coverage in disbelief. That a human being would be capable of even thinking to do just a thing completely confounds and disgusts me. And you are so right. What those poor souls’ last moments must have been like is simply unimaginable. Very hard to get one’s mind around how a ‘greater power’ could ever allow such a thing to happen. Beautiful tribute, Chris.