Ten Seconds With God

Poem in honor of FDNY firefighters on 9/11

 

Ten Seconds With God

 

Ten seconds is a very long time

When that’s all you have to live

Time enough to make your peace

But not enough to give…

 

To give your honey one more kiss

To squeeze her oh so tight

To give your kids assurance that

Everything will be all right

 

From the moment I began this job

I’ve prepared for this day

So now, as He calls me home

It seems I know the way

 

Kaboom, kaboom, kaboom, kaboom

Like a freight train bearing down

I instantly knew how this would end

And I felt His peace surround…

 

Surround my body, and my soul

Surround my brothers in arms

I felt His love, like a giant cloak

Sheltering us from harm

 

While answering the call that day  

I saw the second plane    

It glided through the cloudless sky

Then burst into fiery rain

 

It rained down fire, rained down dust

It rained down bodies, too

It seemed no matter how we tried

There was nothing we could do

 

We knew that people trapped above

The hole that ripped the tower

Could never escape, with their lives

Without His awesome power

 

I prayed that day, a silent prayer

As I stepped inside the lobby

I knew that without His help

We’d only recover bodies

 

We started up the narrow stairs

While others were heading out

As we passed the scared civilians

Some began to shout…

 

“God bless you, our brave firemen.

You’re heroes to us all.”

But we were merely doing our jobs

Answering the call

 

We knew when we began the fight

We all would not survive

But by risking our lives for others

We keep the dream alive…

 

The dream that good will conquer all

And God will help us through

Reward us with eternal life

As we begin anew

 

I saw the face of God that day

As He led me to this place

His will, not ours, will be done

Accept this fact with grace

 

I understood, at once, that day

What we were sent here for

Watch over each other as best we can

For who could ask for more

 

Ten seconds is a very long time…      

 

 

Copyright 2004 by Tom Kenney