11 September 2001

Around the world people watched
As Hollywood became real
As life imitated art.
Interrupted in their work
Or woken from their beds
Pulled to the screen by peers
By family
By radio reports
All around the world
History altered.

Some were shocked
Some were stunned
Some rejoiced
History altered

A country which had not known terror
As others have known terror
Now learned to their pain
The cost of a lifestyle
Which others envy

Did not one of your patriots say that the price of freedom was eternal vigilance?

Now you learn that the vigilance
Is not just to be practiced in an abstract manner
But rather that it is a concrete thing
Now you learn that fear
Is not just a problem for others
But rather that it is the price you pay for living where you do and how you do
Now you learn that terrorism
Is just the other side
Of the fight for freedom

The shock is still there,
One year on.
The fright is still there
One year on.
The terror is still there
One year on.
The desire to strike back is still there
One year on.
The enemy is still there
One year on.
The anger is still there
One year on.
The pain is still there
One year on.
The war is still there
One year on.

There is no winning or losing in this war.
There are only moves and counter-moves
There is no beginning, no ending to this war
Only ongoing manouvres
There is no time in this war
Just the eternal now
There is no right or wrong in this war
Only the eternal justifications of one side and the other.

History altered
But only a little.
History bent
But only by a millimetre.
The planes hit the towers
The towers fell
Gravity did the work
Physics did the work
History didn't even have to move
For in order that history alters completely
Humans have to do the work
Rather than stumbling blindly down the ever deepening grooves of historical inevitability
We have to fight to find a new path
Rather than letting war lead to war and anger lead to anger
We have to step aside and search for concilliation
Rather than equating ideas with lives with dollars
We have to see that the economics of the situation are completely different

The planes hit the towers
The towers fell
The president declared war
The war was held
The war was fought
The war was won
The soldiers went home
History ended

Yet in the rubble of the towers and in the rubble of the country
People scrabbled to put their lives back together
People fought to make a connection to other humans
People stepped out of their normal workday grooves
Made new connections
Created new paths
Found a new humanity

For history to alter
The peacemaker has to get more attention than the warmonger
For history to alter
The aftermath has to get more attention than the incident
For history to alter
The humanities have to get more attention than the politics

It was terrible
It changed nothing
This is more terrible still.

(September 11 2001. Written 13 September 2002.)