Our Darkest Day- My 9/11 Tribute
This is a poem I wrote seven years ago today as I watched the events of 9/11 unfold. I'm afraid it's a very raw poem and not very "professional" but it was my heart that day. My heart hurt for those who had so suddenly lost loved ones, hatred took root as I wondered what kind of monsters could be that sick and demented, and fear took hold as I worried if my children were now suddenly in danger.
"Our Darkest Day" was published a year later in the book "911: The Day America Cried". All proceeds benefit the Todd Beamer Foundation & I am proud to say I did not receive a single penny of any of it! :)
Our Darkest Day
Somewhere today a child cries
For a mother who’ll never come home
A wife waiting to hear from her mate
Sits shaking by the phone.
A sister thinks about words she said
And knows she can’t take back
A brother screams out ‘Why us God?!’
As dust settles from the attack
In streets usually alive with bustle
Now silence and sirens are all that’s heard
Families looking for signs of hope
Just waiting for a word.
In the shadows of a tragedy
A nation is mourning from sea to sea
Who could have done such an awful thing?
God, who can this demon be?
So many questions left unanswered
So much pain left to be felt
But as a nation we swear to our dead
That justice will be dealt.
For they may have struck a horrible blow
But they failed to remember one thing
That even on our Darkest Day
The bells of Liberty ring.
Jolene Coiner
9/11/01
© Jolene Coiner Burzycki
© Jolene Coiner Burzycki