Spirituality Guide

A comment on a blog about Americans remembering brought this back to me; I thought it might help them to know that others around the world remember too, that the night (for Aussies) was one of disbelief and horror as the story unfolded. Whatever came after, that night stands in memory. - Seeker

I came home from the city, on a clear and cool Spring night
after a hard night’s drinking, I was seeking peace and quiet
I settled in with coffee cup, remote to TV link
Flicking through the programs, looking, cop show for me, I think

As I watched it pulled me in, to following the plot
Then ads cut in, annoyance rose, it happens such a lot
Pick up remote, a channel change, and there upon the screen
It’s obviously a movie, but not one that I’ve seen

Cityscape, sky-scraping towers, one of them on fire
A long way up, fifty floors, or maybe even higher
Disaster flick it was, I thought, or aliens invade
I wondered why in TV guide, no mention of it made

Then the local news presenter, female, blonde and cute
Appeared onscreen all serious, in tailored female suit
I didn’t hear her newsbreak flash, still a bit bemused
The movie ran behind her still, it left me quite confused

I finally listened to her words, and understanding came
It was happening in real life; we’d never be the same
I felt cold, all thought shut down, with growing horror now
The Trade Centre was burning, no-one knew just how

Smoke was pouring from the wall, through jagged gaping hole
I hadn’t felt such awesome fear, since time of Grassy Knoll
The world was changing, that I knew, was it World War 3?
Who would attack America, the land of Brave and Free?

Addicted to the footage, I couldn’t move at all
I daren’t miss a moment’s film, I didn’t think to call
I sat and heard presenters guess, they seemed less sure than I
With Towers in the background, they weren’t watching sky

With disbelieving eyes I saw, a plane came from out wide
It didn’t try to miss the tower, just smashed into the side
Time stood still, my mind did spin, replay or real life?
But two sites now belched smoke to sky, the US was in strife!

With goosebumps all across my skin, my mind was out of whack
Then Sandra Sully came back on, disaster at her back
Someone on scene had finally caught, the image I had seen
Their speculations focussed in, attack this must have been

I waited for the white contrails, arc’d through an azure sky
To show the escalating war, the how if not the why
The night remains a crystal blur, of muddy, vivid scenes
And frantic conversations, facts and might-have-beens

The towers fell, one by one, with awesome dusty roar
I knew the folk were dying there, in numbers by the score
With tears in eyes, numb disbelief, the news got even worse
There’s smoke above the White House, just starting to disperse

I felt the aching pain of allies, watching from the side
A great and mighty nation, brought down in its pride
No-one knew just where to strike, they simply knew they must
They pondered through scenarios, whom the States could trust

I listened as they heard the news, the Pentagon was hit
As more came in I had the thought, the Yanks are in deep shit
The urge came strong, it built up quick, it rampaged through my head
The CIA should find them all! Find them, kill them Dead!

When news came in a plane was down, they didn’t quite know why
With clairvoyant awareness, I saw folks prepared to die
They must have feared, but still they tried, just what they had to do
I thought in awe of courage raw, of heroes through and through

There are few times in one man’s life, before it’s really gone
He clearly sees the future change, as it’s going on
JFK, man on the Moon, in memory reside
But 911 showed terrorism, it’s time to stem the tide