In the Silence of a Crowded Room

In the silence of a crowded room at the café down the stairs,
my work abandoned at my desk, I joined my colleagues there
to find the truth behind the talk and watch events unfold
that never could have been believed from what we’d just been told;
Yet there it was, both live and real, on a screen too large to lie,
a scene that left us cold with shock and numbly asking “why?”

In the silence of a crowded room we watched the towers fall

 

crumbling

 

under plumes of smoke.

 

A dark and hollow wall

 

Soon spread itself across this land from sea to shining sea

shrouding us in fear and grief for Lady Liberty.

Yet like a beacon through the blight she bravely held her ground

reminding us to see that we will not be taken down.

 

In the silence of a crowded room I watched those gathered near

and saw each bore a common wound, each face so like a mirror.

We stood united with our pain as we followed terror’s trail.

Together now we share the scars; and together, we’ll prevail.

 

 

 

*from “Somewhere on the Edge of Words,” DM Kraft, c 2001