98 - After the Accident

It is a month since the unspeakable happened. A month of finding new heroes and fearing new demons. A month when we watched, again and again, the television images of the still smoldering rubble at the World Trade Center complex. We who are fortunate to be mourners several degrees removed, can only imagined the continuing agony of those whose loved ones were lost.

Ninety-Eight

After the Accident
For Daniel

You see me in this den with lions,
And I cry out to You:
Why and why, O Eternal?
Where can I hide from this terrible night?

For the darkness pulls at me,
And the sharp teeth of memory surround me.
The lions move in fury to attack me,
Repeating the horror and the pain.

You see me in this den with lions,
And I listen for You, O Eternal.
I release the sobs that rise,
And faintly I hear You.

For You will begin to illuminate kinder days,
You will give me mourning and healing.
You will soothe night terror with returning dawn,
To soften memories’ teeth with my mother’s smile.