Identical twins are coincidental acts of nature
Fraternal twins are hereditary
All twins share an intense connection
And so it was with our twins.

Their glowing youth reaching up to heaven
Babbling freely in a hundred foreign tongues
Foreign to me – not foreign to God.

Gleaming, full of life and rising out of the harbor
Peacefully standing ever so close to their mother Liberty.

To my knowledge they were never named
Only ‘North’ and ‘South’, ‘One’ and ‘Two’.
How sad, even our lions have names
Patience and Fortitude – good names.

Yet we know these giants only as North and South
Two words that at one time divided our nation
Now evoking unity of purpose and fate.

It is said twins feel each others pain,
Can read each others thoughts
So it is with our twins, our siblings,
Because a whole city feels their absence.

Though mortally wounded who could imagine a collapse?
Yet, how could one remain – only one remain.

So we stare at the empty place
Where dreams died, where hopes died
And I see smoke rising at times in column like formation
And some optical illusion restores them to their rightful place.

Clouds of smoke and dust and light and tears and prayers and dreams and hopes
And perhaps that is what a soul is made of
All that, plus love.