Two Thousand One, Nine Eleven
Two
thousand one, nine eleven
Five
thousand plus arrive in heaven
As
they pass through the gate,
Thousands
more appear in wait
A
bearded man with stovepipe hat
Steps
forward saying,
"Lets
sit, lets chat"
They
settle down in seats of clouds
A
man named Martin shouts out proud
"I
have a dream!" and once he did
The
Newcomer said, "Your dream still lives."
Groups
of soldiers in blue and gray
Others
in khaki, and green then say
"We're
from Bull Run, Yorktown, the Maine"
The
Newcomer said, "You died not in vain."
From
a man on sticks one could hear
"The
only thing we have to fear.
The
Newcomer said, "We know the rest,
trust
us sir, we've passed that test."
"Courage
doesn't hide in caves
You
can't bury freedom, in a grave,"
The
Newcomers had heard this voice before
A
distinct Yankees twang from Hyannisport shores
A
silence fell within the mist
Somehow
the Newcomer knew that this
Meant
time had come for her to say
What
was in the hearts of the five thousand plus that day
"Back
on Earth, we wrote reports,
Watched
our children play in sports
Worked
our gardens, sang our songs
Went
to church and clipped coupons
We
smiled, we laughed, we cried, we fought
Unlike
you, great we're not"
The
tall man in the stovepipe hat
Stood
and said, "don't talk like that!
Look
at your country, look and see
You
died for freedom, just like me"
Then,
before them all appeared a scene
Of
rubbled streets and twisted beams
Death,
destruction, smoke and dust
And
people working just 'cause they must
Hauling
ash, lifting stones,
Knee
deep in hell
But
not alone
"Look!
Blackman, Whiteman, Brownman, Yellowman
Side
by side helping their fellow man!"
So
said Martin, as he watched the scene
"Even
from nightmares, can be born a dream."
Down
below three firemen raised
The
colors high into ashen haze
The
soldiers above had seen it before
On
Iwo Jima back in '44
The
man on sticks studied everything closely
Then
shared his perceptions on what he saw mostly
"I
see pain, I see tears,
I
see sorrow - but I don't see fear."
"You
left behind husbands and wives
Daughters
and sons and so many lives
are
suffering now because of this wrong
But
look very closely. You're not
really gone.
All
of those people, even those who've never met you
All
of their lives, they'll never forget you
Don't
you see what has happened?
Don't
you see what you've done?
You've
brought them together, together as one.
With
that the man in the stovepipe hat said
"Take
my hand," and from there he led
five
thousand plus heroes, Newcomers to heaven
On
this day, two thousand one, nine one eleven.
-author-