SEPTEMBER  11

Poem for Today - September 11, 2014

WILL IT BE HEARD

If it falls, will it be heard?

A panorama falls
Everyone was there
          It was heard
The sirens heard it
The ambulances heard it
The police cars and fire trucks heard it
The TV channels broadcasting around the world heard it
It was heard far away in Afghanistan
It was heard in Beverly Hills
Even Moscow heard it
          And they often hear only what they want to hear
It was heard in the South Bronx where I was born
And it was heard in Los Angeles where my children were born
I know for a fact it was heard in Las Vegas where my grandchildren were born because
My daughter called me at dawn to let me know she heard it

I am afraid to sleep tonight because last night I slept like a baby and when I awoke, it was a nightmare

It had fallen
Steel by steel
Stone by stone
Person by person
It had fallen to broken skeletal hulk
Like Rome
Like Holy Roman Empire
Like Nero.

© Larry Jaffe