"9/11"

three years go this September
15 Saudi’s and four other
sons of the Prophet Mohammed
ripped three holes out of the sky
unleashed flames 14 stories high
killed 2,616 mostly US citizens
and felled the twin mammoth
towers which a decade before
had been the world’s
largest building

the center of a neural
network which spread
from its heart in the lower part of Manhattan
through cities that included
London, Tokyo, Jakarta,
Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and all
countries ruled by capital,
markets and international trade…

after the smoke
began to clear
and the newspapers had listed
the names of the dead
and the bodies were bagged and
dragged out of the buildings
and buried

and the families and friends of
families and friends of friends
of families mourned
and sympathies arrived
from the four corners of the world

and some mourner
thousands of miles away chanted

today we are all New Yorkers
today we are all New Yorkers
today we are all New Yorkers
today we are all New Yorkers

and analysts
agreed that the world
would never be the same
and some of a religious bent
warned of the beginning
of Armageddon or at least
the Third Millennium’s first religious war

and the flags began to sprout
in front of homes
and on cemetery lots
in small towns and big cities
all across America

and talk show hosts, a
President and a majority
of the President’s retainers
began to demand
blood and retribution

and it was determined
that the man
who orchestrated
history’s most successful
privately financed attack
against the United States
was some billionaire
sheik and member
of the Wahhabi sect of Islam

who lived humbly
in the mountains
of a place called Afghanistan
where Mullahs ruled
by fear
and life moved
at a 15th Century pace

where most people
had never heard
of the World Trade Center
and whose trade in
things like rugs and opium
amounted to maybe
$600 US per year

and three years to the day
after 19 sons
of the Prophet Mohammed
ripped three holes
out the skies above
New York, Washington
and Western Pennsylvania

those 2,616 mostly US citizens
whose fate was sealed
by that September disaster
have been joined
in death by 15,000 Americans
Afghanis and Iraqis

the sheik still lives
apparently somewhere
in Pakistan or Afghanistan
commands an army
some say
originally financed
by the Central Intelligence Agency
and Saudi oil...

and three years to the day
after 19 sons
of the Prophet Mohammed
ripped three holes
out the skies above
New York, Washington
and Western Pennsylvania

the the President
and his armies
have captured the ruler
of a country
1,000 miles from
Afghanistan

broadcast to the world
pictures of a tyrant
they said
posed a greater danger
than the sheik

tyrant
they said
hoarded weapons
worse than ever before
seen by man...

and three years to the day
after 19 sons
of the Prophet Mohammed
ripped three holes
out the skies above
New York, Washington
and Western Pennsylvania

the mullahs
friends of the sheik
have returned
to Afghanistan
some say
when the smoke clears
they will again
take up
their rule by fear

the United States
is a place
where flags still fly
in front of homes
and on cemetery lots
in small towns and big cities

and a place
some say
in an odd way
is like the Afghanistan
of the mullahs

place perpetually
on high alert

place of fear
ruled by fear.

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Sep. 11, 05:14:13 UTC
Lambertville, NJ
©2004, Angelo John Lewis
www.thirtypoemsinthirtydays.com
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