9/11

A flag was raised

and the pope put

his hand to his

forehead.

An old

man cried into a

bouquet of flowers

and candles stayed

lit on a sidewalk.

A young woman kept

feeling her stomach

and a street musician

injected a bit of humor

into his veins.

A fireman

coughed and somebody

up on a cross made an

effort to exaggerate the

lies that had been told to

him since he was an embryo.