story2771.xml
Title
story2771.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
The following is a poem that a wrote proceeding the tragedy of 9/11. I read the New York Times "Portraits of Grief" daily following the attacks and was very affected by the stories of those lost at The World Trade Center. My reaction to reading these stories inspired the poem.
Elegy
Layers of steel
Layers of death
Mangled material and layers of dust.
Lifetimes ? thousands ended
We read their stories everyday
Portraits of grief with our morning coffee
I think about their lives, each one
A motion picture stopped in the middle of a scene.
What was once energy
Is now a pile of debris
Smiles and souls, hearts and laughter
Are silenced forever.
The strangers who perished ? now we know them
They are in our heart and
We are crying for humankind.
11.13.01
Elegy
Layers of steel
Layers of death
Mangled material and layers of dust.
Lifetimes ? thousands ended
We read their stories everyday
Portraits of grief with our morning coffee
I think about their lives, each one
A motion picture stopped in the middle of a scene.
What was once energy
Is now a pile of debris
Smiles and souls, hearts and laughter
Are silenced forever.
The strangers who perished ? now we know them
They are in our heart and
We are crying for humankind.
11.13.01
Collection
Citation
“story2771.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 23, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/15328.