Sept 11, 2001 

  
A mind cannot fathom what it has not lived; 
a heart cannot feel that which has not touched it. 

I cannot cry 
though I try 
I am stuck in a trance 
aghast, dumbfounded, shocked, appalled; 
and yet I have not been touched 
I cannot truly know how it feels. 

Ancestors tell of times of war; 
of bombshells and sirens 
and blackening their windows; 
of living constantly in gripping fear; 
of warplanes droning up above. 
Yet this is a time of peace? 
War is a far and distant state 
living either in history books, 
or memories of stories told, 
or at best, in some far distant land, 
touching us only as images on a screen, 
....not here in our back yard? 

And still, I cannot cry 
even though I try 
I am stuck in this trance 
watching inexplicable, unfathomable, incomprehensible tragedy, 
and yet I have not been touched 
I cannot truly know how it feels. 

The pictures tell of times of horror 
of fire and smoke, and sirens 
and blackening of the skies; 
of people struck by terror, and death; 
of innocent planes from above. 
Even in this time of peace! 
Acts of war touch innocent people 
coming out of the sky 
striking in the blink of an eye; 
shattering our complacency 
touching us all with images on a screen, 
....right here in our back yard! 

Too stunned to cry 
though I try 
but I am stuck in this trance 
seeing surreal, phantasmic, nightmarish visions on the screen 
and yet I have not been touched 
I cannot truly know how it feels. 

A mind cannot fathom what it has not lived; 
a heart cannot feel that which has not touched it. 
Although I have witnessed the horrific tragedy, 
it has left me unscathed; 
I have no right to cry! 
for I will never see what they saw 
hear what they heard, feel what they felt, 
never truly be touched to the depths of my soul. 
My heart has not been wrenched, 
my mind has not been twisted 
my entire being has not been churned with the rubble, 
like those who lived the horror. 

They cry 
they don't even need to try! 

 
                        sept2001