10/02/2001 0`dark:30
In regard to 9-11-2001
Empty chairs at the tables of
one thousand homes — times six.
Pillows lie on beds,
forever to be cold.
Hearts that wait for a calming word,
souls longing for someone to hold.
I have been there.
To the summit of that pair of pillars
reaching so amazingly high.
I stood in wide-eyed wonder
at the city’s towering gems.
Now I stare in disbelief
at an empty space in the Apple’s sky.
I find solace in knowing that the scores of those lost souls
were lifted straight to a better place –
by the collective prayers of the witnessing world.
It’s true that tears have yet to subside…
true there are more that will be cried.
It’s true that so much we knew
will never be the same.
But I also know that with turning of the leaves
comes the day of Thanksgiving –
for the memories of our newest angels…
for the knowing that, while for so many,
there’d be no going home,
still God sent to them his most special…
in uniforms of blue,
and fighters of fires…
from outside the bounds of harm,
from the masses left behind…
Sent in…
so they would know
they weren’t to perish abandoned, unescorted or forgotten
I believe too, that beneath the fallen structures
opened a crevasse of fire and discontent,
vows to immediately deliver the doers of evil,
the terminators of meant-to-be-peaceful flights,
straight into the bowels of hell.
And too, the souls of unintended fate
were raised as quickly to a celestial journey’s end,
accompanied and tended to by those
we were taught as children were our protectors, our heroes…our friends.
Those of us that remain will long struggle to find the meaning of it all.
The vision of what will balance, then overcome and
topple the self elevated mongers of hate
to their deserved fate – still eludes me.
I cannot know the specifics,
except that the believers of what is good and closer to Godliness will
in the end prevail.
By the rising up of spirit, faith and oneness
of our unseen friends – I feel a surge of awareness,
of determination and strength,
born of sorrow, shock, anger, fear, love and compassion.
There has begun a healing,
both of the scars left on the land and the division of good people,
for reasons that now seem petty and self-absorbed.
Already, good has risen from the ashes;
new vows of reparation have
emerged from amid the smoldered flames.
I hope the world will never be the same
as it was before that day.
I hope we can love one another more deeply,
be sincere in our greetings and farewells.
I pray that Christmas and other faith-filled days
can see a return to their roots – and linger past the designated days.
The souls departed need to know that beyond our efforts to
deny the tormentors satisfaction from their deeds –
that true good can be derived from the
sadness and the
madness of it all.
Mostly, what we need is hope.
We can only find it in each other,
no matter who or where we are.
Like the man said, “Come together”…
I don’t want this generation to lose its own version of what was our “Camelot”.
Hey God…We could use a little help down here…okay?
Matthew Lyle Landsman
Matthew Lyle Landsman 
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