Emerging Courageous online Magazine

Emerging Courageous online Magazine - Poetry

Twin Towers

By Paul Camenisch

Sept.15, 2001

In the awful, unreal days after the twin towers fell, a vision came--

In the vision I saw among the broken, burned bodies of the victims,

the lifeless corpse of the ancient belief that violence is a way to peace,

that retaliation is a step toward justice.

I heard the grief stricken promise their dead,

"We will honor you by seeing that no more innocents die.

I saw the tears of the survivors join with the tears of all who have ever wept

over a lost loved one until a mighty river cleansed the eyes of all,

and the people could see again the humanity in the faces

of all their brothers and sisters, and could see in their own hearts

the danger of their own inhumanity.

I saw a world moving beyond "an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,"

past "live and let live," to arrive finally at "live and help live;

treasure the irreplaceable life of each and every one."

I saw a world in which the humanity of none was turned murderous

by the evils of injustice, prejudice, racism and hunger,

because the hungry, sick child had become everyone's child,

and the starving, the oppressed, the disenfranchised had been

welcomed back to the table of the human family.

I saw a world that had waged war against injustice and indifference,

a world in which all had become victors together.

Then I heard many voices shout, "That way will not work!"

But turning back to the smoking rubble,
I heard the voiceless dead whisper, "And this way...?