When I go on vacation, I try to find one experience which would make a good subject for a poem. More often than not, it deals with a historical site.
One of my favorite spots is the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Ill.,which was where I shared a ride on a restored trolley car with an Egyptian family one day in August, 2001.
Unfortunately, we had no way of knowing...

To an All-American family

As I sit and ponder that darkest day,

I think of you.

I know you only from sharing a seat

on a vintage streetcar now used to

ferry tourists around a museum for trains.

On a summer's day

A month and a million years

before that hateful morning.

You were just another American family,

more metal for the melting pot,

from the lands of Muhammad,

A young couple with babies and children

growing up around Allah,

But thinking of 'N Sync and Sammy Sosa.

Are you safe?

Are you well?

Are you still free?

Has your skin caused others to look on in fear?

I wish you the best.

Others have come

and felt the wrath

They too, love the land.