Remembering 9/11

Forever Emergency

Emily-Amber Holmes

I heard the roar of a ferric kite

navigating across the sky,

as the iron birds flew

into the sisters hearts.

I stood in disbelief

as smoke piled out of the angel wing hole,

drifting towards the clear blue sky

making the day into night.

And I couldn't help but wonder,

if the homeless man on the corner

was right when his sign read

the end is near.

I watched the men and women,

risk their lives to save those

who were trapped in the

unbreathable air and unsteady skyscrapers.

None of them knew that that morning

would be their last time holding their children

and kissing their spouses goodbye.

They didn't know they wouldn't make it home for dinner.

The world stood still

when the two girls fell

crushing down like an accordion

on top of thousands of innocents.

I ran into the closest building,

to escape the cloud of debris

But even I couldn't outrun

my new dusty armor.

My heart was racing.

I closed my eyes and prayed

to a God I didn't believe in.

When the smoke cleared

we walked hand in hand,

to the ground zero sight.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

I saw a ladder,

all covered in ashes
rising high from the depths

of the twins last remains.

Echoes of a thousand different voices

shattered my bruised ears,

as the jet fuel

burned my flared nostrils.

Everywhere I looked,

I saw different shades of gray.

I prayed for a glimpse of the blue heavens.

To breathe the fresh air

instead of the soot and smoke.

The papers from the identical skeletons

ran in the roads like tumbleweed.

Our little island,

now looked like a ghost town.

The streets began to clear.

Everyone wanted to get away.

I watched how the people walked,

most not knowing where they were going.

Many cried from the death in the air.

I could taste metal in my mouth,

from clenching onto my tongue

when the sky fell from above my head.

I kicked a stone

yelling out to whoever would hear.

But when I opened my mouth

no sound erupted.

I pinched myself hundreds of times.

But every time it grew sharper.

When I finally got home

I looked up to the stars.

A thousand more then the night before.

Shining brighter and stronger,

through the black velvet sky.

My feathers had burned

and I couldn't fly away

without leaving the ground.

Remembering would be my anchor

and forgetting would never cut the string.