Where We Were

I think about where we were; Where we've
been; Where we are no longer-
Tears still well, but the prayers for the
dead have lessened; The voices of anger
have fell silenced; Every aspect of why
has been beaten to its own
sentencing of a final era-
The searches for normalcy met; Forcing
opened hands to once again lay evenly
at our sides-

I think about where we were; I can still
hear the screams of the dying; See the bodies
as they plummeted to the ground-
Smelled the smoke as it filled the air; Felt the
quake that changed the horizons;
And I felt the guilt; Oh the guilt that took
over my entire body; heart, mind and soul-
'Til that day; I'd never heard his name;
Oh but I met him on the faces and in the eyes
of every passerby; In every photo; and in
every lifeless body pulled from beneath the
twisted steel and concrete rubble-

I think about where we were; And damn it; It
still hurts; Damn him; Him; The one that so
many had never gave one moment's thought to; Oh
but they have now; The one that forced our opened
hands to clench at our chests and feel the pain
of his vigilant hatred-
I think about where we were; Within minutes of
where we'd been; Where normal seemed so
far away; and why didn't seem to matter at all-
It happened; To us; Against us; And it
stole our lives; It threw us into mourning;
and the shock of numbness as realization

I think about where we were; Where we've been;
and where we are no longer-
Each time I hear, Amazing Grace, I feel the
coldness of its tone;
Every sidewalk takes me down the smooth runway
to a place we recognize as Ground Zero-
But it too has been reconditioned to normalcy-
Maybe we should have left the rubble-
As our gateway to remembering; Our gateway
as a reminder for us not to forget-

I think about where we were; and Where we've been;
I think about him remaining vigilant in hatred-
and damn it; Damn him; For I know; He knows;
where we are no longer

© Lisa Hilbers
1/30/2006