story1701.xml

story1701.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-03

PLEASE PASS THIS POEM ON AND SEND IT AROUND THE WORLD!! WE DON'T WANT TO FORGET THE PEOPLE WHO DIED!

Remember 9-11 - send this poem around the world


LINK TO HEAR SONG "DON'T FORGET MY NAME"

http://www.terryneal.denimproject.org


PASS THIS EMAIL AND POEM ON TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW - Our goal is to get this to

as many people as possible by September 11th



At 9:48 EST on September 11 2002 we would like everyone around the world to

stop for a moments silence and then recite this poem, either to themselves or

as a group.

We want to remember the people who died in these attacks.



Don't Forget My Name by Terry Neal

Evening drops the curtain on another day

As you lie in bed

Suffocating memories persist

Melancholy invasions

Brother, partner, sister, father,

Lover, mother

Friend

Don't forget my name

Grief overwhelms

Closing your eyes

Living in the past during an eternal moment

We sat together at graduation

This was my first real job

You were my first new friend

in a new city, a new job

Don't forget my name

Feelings churn

tangled in that pit

in your gut

Son, co-worker, husband, boss,

daughter, wife, pilot

Don't forget my name

The feelings won't go away

After all this time

Which in reality only seems long ago

Rescuing you was my job

And this was just another day on the job

Don't forget my name

Life is much too real these days

A paradoxical mix of joy and pain

A tornado of the soul

Hurrying strangers bumped on the street

A woman who was late for her train

Arriving downstairs at that moment

Don't forget my name

And there you are, standing again at the door

to your soul

opening and wandering into what you know

will tear you apart

yet again ripping open the fresh repairs

I was sitting on the plane

looking forward to this special trip

I was sitting on the plane looking forward

to getting home Don't forget my name

You enter your soul

To look again

Like a wreck on the side of the road

you glance to see if the horror

will stretch your limits

even more than what you expect to see, what you saw

bursting your feelings even further

You can't help but look

just as you can't stop yourself

from going through that door wondering what it was like

for those who were there

Any of us, all of us,

You, Me, I, They, Them, Whoever

We keep the promise

To not forget their names

Time fixed our destiny that day

Time numbs our grief

But the sorrow remains

I was sitting there looking out the window

Drinking my coffee, looking at my messages

Don't forget my name

Words are the ammunition we use

in our target practice for grief

Learning to open the door

Learning to live again

While denying that we ever will

I arrived late that day

standing at the door looking up

hearing the sounds overhead

I was upstairs at a special meeting,

feeling privileged to be invited here

Don't forget my name

You hear me touching you with whispers in the wind

Assuring you though I am cast unto the ages

I am still with you

I would rather not be a hero

But now I understand that hero's

Don't choose their fate

And now you remain

Don't forget my name


(c)2003 by Terrance R. L. Neal

We are very grateful to Terry Neal for writing the poem and the song also.

You can find a copy also at his website

http://www.terryneal.com/YouDecide.htm