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AFTERIMAGES
All is quiet now here at Ground Zero. The ambulances and fire
trucks have
all packed up and gone away. Grass now grows where ashes and human
remains
once commingle.
Today, pigeons and other birds peck about in that same dirt and alight
nearby
in search of food. Dogs bark distantly. Clouds stroll across
the sky like
great airships amid the summer blue. Those people who come here
still speak
in whispers for the first few minutes. As they gaze about, feeling
the
colossal energy of this place, they are grateful that they still live
and are
able to come here at all.
This huge scarred city dreams its late summer visions as quiet traffic
passes
by, seemingly intent upon keeping its commercial mission alive.
The people
stand about, heads together, glancing sideways at the landscape,
marveling at
the peace they feel here within this former locus of horror's
expression.
They seem to see again the crashing planes and raining debris, smoke and
ashes blotting out the sun. They relive the roiling thunder of
that morning
last September 11th, and again find themselves amid the echoing screams
of
bodies falling like organic rain.
Life goes on and the crowds disburse, going back to their lives, yet
carrying
the freight of recognized empowerment that comes from shared sorrow for
those
who have died and sympathy for those who labored here to heal this
mighty scar.
The American Flag still flies above this place, forever symbolizing our
shared grief and resolve that this place will remain hallowed ground
forever.
Together, we bid our final good-bye to those who perished here. To
those
heroes who worked so long and hard to clean this wound and bind it up,
we
silently give our humble thanks.
Good-bye from Ground Zero.
For the survivors of 9-11-01
Nic East, Hill Home Forge
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