Why?

Why does it take

Death and destruction

To bring us together?

Why does it take

Obliteration

To abolish boundaries?

Why do we find

We are one,

Apart of a whole

And not separate,

In times of darkness and doubt?

 

Why does it not take

Life and creation?

Why does it not take

Love to erase boundaries?

Why do we not bond

In times of light and hope?

That painful mistress,

That horrible distress.

To realize that it doesn't matter,

And all that we thought

Was pertinent

Is false.

That what matters

Is a hand clasping a hand

To pull one another

Out of the rubble.

In the background

Of burning buildings,

Towers ignited and felled by hate and twisted agendas,

Do we raise up and sing

In glory of a nation great.

What we remember together

And not what we remember alone.

The warmth of a smile,

A stranger to help.

The kindness of a hug,

A fellow to hold.

The drying of tears,

A human to relate.

 

Why can we not

Love each other

When it matters?

 

...why?

Author's Note

In memory of 9/11