American Silver Linings Poem by Alistair FraserPeters

1 Woe, darling, woe, you know how the wind blows:
In from the sea and over the land:
No, darling, no, it carries no sadness,
But serves to remind us of the sadness that is ours
For those who have gone and only speak in echoes;
We can’t caress their faces, we cannot hold their hands.
The glorious smiles we have, they left before this madness
Tore them from our midst and left our nation scarred.
They may have gone, but they will be held closely -
In our thoughts and prayers until our mortal lives are spanned;
Then it will be as it would have been had this
Cloud not unleashed it storm over America.

2 America’s loved ones are America’s heart;
The heart that set the nation’s pulse right from the very start;
That beats elatedly each time a son or daughter’s born;
And seizes up and fills with grief when comes the time to mourn.
When they’re gone we can’t take having them for granted anymore:
Their talking on the telephone, their walking through the door;
Their picking out their favourite treats down at the grocery store;
Their highs and lows at Super Bowl when one or the other scores;
Their help or hindrance when it comes to doing family chores;
The little things that tell you you are theirs and they are yours.
Like the Stars without their Stripes, their light was dimmed our heads were
bowed:
But eternal love’s an American silver lining around the cloud.

3 Look at yourself and you behold the nation:
All kinds of people with all kinds of minds:
An eclectic mix but it has one thing in common:
You are America and America is you!
It could have been you in abject desperation:
To jump or to burn knowing either way you’d die;
Or ‘phoning your folks as you were taken from them:
Farewell messages of love and being with God soon.
Thus it was when Uncle Sam was caught without his hat on
And knocked to the ground in this cowardly crime,
Americans rallied without having to be summoned:
We lifted him up high and we saw that he pulled through.

4 America’s people are America’s soul:
We’re strong individuals and still stronger as a whole.
We thank God for our families, our neighbours and our friends;
And when our kinfolk were laid low, for giving us our strength!
On that dreadful morning when the planes came falling from our skies,
At first confusion reigned and everyone was terrified;
But then we watched in awe as those in whom we trust arrived
At what seemed like the Gates of Hell and made their way inside.
We looked a hero in the eye, assuming he would die,
As he and colleagues searched for stranded victims who’d survived.
They were all The Stars and Stripes that day and made us oh so proud:
Selflessness is an American silver lining around the cloud.

5 Darling, although it was a day for crying,
Not all the tears were for those who had died.
Some were of babies for whom it was their birthday:
Creations of love in the face of evilness!
As the world watched America dying,
God’s healing touch was tenderly applied.
Tiny little hearts pumped new life every which way;
Each one a ray of hope for a nation in distress:
Living memorials to the ones whose souls were flying
Heav’nwards bidding their sweet America goodbye!
These gifts of innocence in the midst of this outrage
Showed that God soothed our pain and our country He blessed.

6 America’s babies are America’s joy:
They fill our hearts with a pure love that evil can’t destroy.
They helped us see beyond the moment of our deepest woe
And gave us the determination to repel the blow!
When the flames of hatred illuminated our darkest hour
We held our babies in our arms and knew we wouldn’t cower;
Within those precious, fragile lives we felt The Almighty’s power.
As America was on her knees beneath the falling towers;
As our loved ones were picked from us just like beautiful flowers;
As hopes and aspirations expired in those dev’lish showers;
As The Stars and Stripes lay over us, a dusty, tattered shroud,
Newborn babies were an American silver lining around the cloud.