I'm not a religious man
But there are things in which I believe
The absolutes of Truth and Justice
The human ability to achieve

I believe in Reason
In Life, Love, and Liberty
In individual Freedom
In Hope and human ingenuity

I believe in ideals
In personal Integrity
Honesty, Enterprise, and Trust
And Responsibility

And for me there was a place
A magnificent, sacred sight
A shrine of sorts for my beliefs
For all the things I feel are right

A physical representation
Of all that I hold true
Of all the best within us
Of everything we should aspire to

They stood in silent testament
In majestic demonstration
Of what humanity can achieve
And as a source of inspiration

The Day Before

I remember thinking out loud
About how out of hand things were
I'm tired! Sleepless! Overworked!
The world a shapeless racing blur

Worker! Parent! Homeowner! Slave!
Courting court dates with weary eyes.
Pondering the hours from birth to grave.
Wake up! The defendant will now rise

No evidence will be admitted
No testimony to the truth
No time to hear how you've tried
No witnesses! No proof!
No justice for all our efforts
Just lies, disbelief, and pain
I guess it's "Just us!" from now on
No more sacrifice in vain

Another day in traffic
A world of mindless sitcom drone
Another day lost, much too tragic
I'm better left alone
Another day of shopping
A world of idle idiot chatter
Indifferent to anything Beautiful or True
A world where nothing seems to matter

Been a while since I've seen my kids
And I wonder how they've been
My therapist says I need to breathe
And it's all I can do, just to nod, and grin

Last Call

A life time spent in moments
Running, Waiting, "going out tonight?"
Putting off heading home

How many nights spent wasted?
Still loitering at last call
Loud, smoke filled, lonely, nights
Can you even remember them all?

What would you pay to have them back?
A night, an hour, a moment or less
For a single touch, a smile, a word
All that last minute regret, so useless!

One moment working, worrying, waiting
A moment later lost in mayhem, and madness
People running, screaming, crying
Panic! Death! The pleading of the helpless.

A lifetime of expectations
All that hope, and joy, and fear
With just one last point of contact
Suddenly everything is clear

A moment spanning lifetimes
Ringing, Waiting, Please be home, My God!
Anything to get back home

It's me! I'm not going to make it.
No time to tell you why.
Please believe I'm sorry.
I love you! Kiss the kids!
I love them too!
goodby . . .

Nothing to Regret

It came as a quite a shock
The day the twin titans fell
One minute, standing there, majestic in the sun
An hour later, looking like a year of hell

Yes, you really caught us sleeping
I guess you really let us know
Just how far you were willing to take this
Just how far you're willing to go

I've heard about the heroes
Who gave their lives that day
Average men made true martyrs
But they've shown us the way

The dust here is settling
And we're moving past our fears
Righteous outrage, born of shock
Iron will forged with painful tears

You wanted our attention
Well, you've got it, how's it feel?
A little too exciting?
A little too surreal?

Now you'll have to face us
All your secret ways laid bare
Now we know your methods
Now we know you're there

Remember this and mark it well,
We will never forget
Nothing to lose, no place to hide
And from this point on,

. . . nothing to regret!

Enemy on our shore

There's nothing here to fear
Except everything we know
For all our talk of progress
Our statesmen move so slow

With weapons of mass destruction
Hidden everywhere
Infected mail, Infected people
From a handshake, to a dare

Killers without reason
Men with nothing to lose
Carrying a virus, a toxic gas,
Driving a bomb with no fuse

Nothing at stake - but freedom
Cries for security over rights
"Not the time for second thoughts,
Now we've got them in our sights"

They say the enemy is crafty
Hiding everywhere
They say "Privacy is a luxury!
One that we can spare!"

They say "The enemy is a liar!
A hypocrite, and a madman too!"
They tell us "Our options are running low
And that our choices are too few"

But we must find a new strength
Remember all of those who've died before
There's more at stake than feeling better
It's not enough, just to settle the score

We must secure our homeland
Without losing sight of why we should
We mustn't sacrifice our freedom
On an altar of fear, for the public good

Don't surrender to the terror
Remember what were fighting for
Remember who we are
There's more than one enemy on our shore

Post Attack

I was still reeling from the news
With not a week gone by
I still felt raw and bleeding
Still trying not to cry

Working up there not two weeks before
In the city office, day after day
Not that you had thought to even ask
If I had I been in harms way

Just a matter of timing
A narrow margin of chance
I happened to be stuck in traffic
Thanks to random circumstance

Then I got a message
Another well timed blow
It said "Just in case you wondered,
Just thought you'd like to know"

I read the rage filled words
Even your name was wrong
The same sad old story
Rewritten as a song

I couldn't understand it?
Yet another senseless attack
Just the same old story
No respect for truth or fact

There's a lot of pain and anger
A lot of misdirected rage
Fights and failures, all my fault
Played out on your stage

My happiness is your pain
How and Why should that be so?
There's more to this than you can list
Much more than you know

You knew what it meant to me
Yet you send me water, while I drown
I hope your happy, I hope your proud
Kick the old man while he's down

I found a picture I took of you
When you were innocent and small
Life, love, and hope, atop those towers
And such a long, long way to fall

I still remember when you loved me
And I could make your stars dance
When you were full of the joy of life
A wink, and a smile, with every glance

Oh yes child, I still remember
When you told me that you never cared
Parental rights and love subverted
Blaming me, saying you were scared

Look past your pain and anger
And take these words to heart
The truth lives inside of you
Find the courage to make a new start

So much needless anger
So much wasted pain
So little time, So many words
Yet no way to make it plain

I love you and I always will
I'll be waiting, you'll be welcome
When your ready to embrace
All the things your running from

Gifts, pictures, and remembrances
All waiting on my office shelf
Someday, maybe, you can claim them
After you make time, to find yourself

Aftermath

We're still counting the bodies
The confirmed. Unknown. Identified.
Names moving from the list of missing
To the list of those who've died

Here and at the Pentagon
and in a Pennsylvania field
So much to do before we're done
Can these wounds ever be healed?

We're cutting off their funding
And shelling them where they live
We're all looking for ways to help
For any support that we can give

The flags are out and flying
A fever pitch of patriotism
While a few ignorant and angry
Use this to justify their racism

No time for fun, put on the news
Anthrax is on the rise
World War Three in living color
Right before our eyes

Looking for explanations
Playing with cause and effect
Waiting for the next attack
And everyone's a suspect

Some are crying for a Jihad
Some saying it's a new crusade
Some are hateful, some are frightened
Some are prayerful, hoping to persuade

It's coming down to brass tacks
Have to fight the fear inside
We're sending bombs, We're sending food
and trying to stem the tide

We're targeting their weapons
Trying to spare the innocent
Reaching out for contact
To try and enlighten the ignorant

We're campaigning on all fronts
Seeking common ground
Putting the old problems aside
With the new focus we've found

Maybe it's time we realized
That we've reached some limit here
The enemies now are ignorance
indifference, prejudice, and fear

How much of this was our own fault?
And how many more must pay?
We need to find a new perspective
A higher truth to light our way

Without a better understanding
Our entire civilization may fall
From here on, we must move together
If we're going to move forward at all