Twin Towers: the poetry of hatred and revenge

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September 11 2001


This footage beats the best of Hollywood
a sudden bloom of cancerous fire
and smoke, the beating of a million black wings

Obsessively we watch the symbol of the modern dream
collapse in stark fragility, a house of cards;
the highest order falls to fiery hate

And you my sister, brandishing that scarf
‘I’m here,’ balancing height and heat
until you chose the sheer sharp flight

We can not see the rush of startled souls
not hear the too long groans of pain and fear
until sweet sleeping death crept over them

Ah yes! you’ll be avenged! More sons
will die, more mothers scream and raise their hands
to an avenging God.  We cannot stop the world.

It has to be like this. We’re only human after all.
This is reality - not film.     Justice and reason -
that’s just a childish dream. Think what you’re told to think.

© Richard Lawson 13/11/01