Aftermath

A Tribute to all those that lost their own life
or the lives of loved ones on September 11, 2001

I thought that I was safe,
protected from those who seek to end life
as if it were no more than the extinguishing of a small flame.
How naive of me.
I believed that I was out of reach,
separated by land and water and culture.
It took only moments to collapse all the I held to be true.
My innocence crumbled and lay buried
beneath the mountain of waste that once was
concrete, glass, flesh, bones, hopes and dreams.
I watched in disbelief, as with a flash and a roar
the world shook, and was forever more changed.
Gone were the pillars that stood proudly and tall,
an icon of the exchange of global commerce and humanity.
Gone were the heroes...the ones whose duty led them
to sacrifice their all for their fellow man...
and the everyday heroes who worked unsung
side by side, shoulder to shoulder,
providing a life for children and spouses,
sisters, brothers and parents.
That which I had taken for granted,
I now had to fight to maintain
with a strength and determination that had risen,
like the phoenix,
from the debris and smoldering ashes.
A determination to go forward with a true sense of hope and comfort
because I had witnessed that although evil walks among us,
goodness and love of fellow man...shall and must prevail

©D.W.Rickard 2011