Look! (September 11th) Poem by Denis Martindale

It wasn't just another day when people went to work -
This was a time of such dismay the memories wouldn't shirk!
The tv screens replayed the sights that stick in every mind…
When death approached! Two vicious flights! The killers were resigned!
They ploughed ahead with all their powers towards their destiny!
Towards New York! Towards the towers! Towards calamity!
The smoke belched forth to fill the sky! The rubble fell to earth!
Five billion souls still ask God why He gave the killers birth!
And yet they lived to fly those planes and steal the workers' dreams -
To fill their lives with scars and pains to suffer from their schemes!
The city sent its rescue crews, to salvage what it could!
And here we prayed on seeing views of heroes, brave and good!
What contrast to the infamy of what we'd seen before!
What villainy! What chivalry! And now the threat of war!
Man's store of germs and bombs and guns and sticks and stones await!
They'll steal away this world that once sensed peace instead of hate!
God grant us strength to persevere! Restore our faith again!
This world was meant for joy not fear and goodwill to all men.
Our tears portray our fervent prayer! Help us donate our gifts!
For we are here and they are there… lost in the smoke that drifts…


DENIS MARTINDALE