I woke up this morning thinking,
"It couldn't have happened,"
that the events of the week would fade,
as dreams, soon after rising.

Bush declares war, and I grieve as
stars and stripes drape buildings, screens,
and people -- simultaneously relieved,
conscious of each step in preparation.

The mayor's eyes are worn and swollen,
yet gleam as he gives a bride away,
and promotes firefighters to replace
their comerades, our fallen heroes,

at two ceremonies -- in a single day.
Giuliani is courageous and empathetic,
and George Bush is doing fine
on the sixth day, the world created new:**

Not God's compassionate plan
of peace and compromise, loving
our brothers as ourselves -- but an evil
genius' plot to demonize each other.***

No one can bow New Yorkers, as we
huddle 'round our flag, hug each other
on the street, and lift our souls
in song, in strength, in joy of hope.

Firefighters, volunteers, police
cross the barrier unceasingly,
routing fatigue, descending daily
into hell -- and incomprehensibly -- returning.

Rumors of tapping subside, yet we believe
survivors wait, that the smiling, vibrant faces
on a multitude of posters will come home,
that everything will be alright again.

On the sixth day, God's love creates
Adam and Eve. The couple caress, conceiving
brothers. But tears obscure Cain's vision
as he jealously surveys fair Abel's bounty.

Catherine Gutleber September 17, 2001

(c) 2001 by Catherine Gutleber

*The sixth day after 9/11.
**After the shock of the World Trade Center attack, everything the politicians did seemed fine.
***John Milton referred to Satan as an "evil genius" in "Paradise Lost".