September 11, 2001

[The following lines were written on the morning of September 11, 2001 before I learned of the terrorist attacks]:

Asleep with open windows,
crisp air greets morning eyes.
Outside, cobalt clear skies, heavy dew
on asparagus ferns gleans thick, suspends like frost, crystallized

Thistledown on daughter’s cheek,
“soft” she whispers.

our cat Autumn catches up to us
like the season he’s named for.

The clarity, the stillness,
crisp reality surrounding us
refreshing, a sudden settling
summer heat into trees
dispersed by a breeze,

the winds of change blew in unnoticed

[It was just after writing that last line that I learned of the terrorist attacks. The following is written that same day, September 11, and describes how I respond]

I come inside from dew-soaked delight
and learn of the terrorist attack.
Symbols crumble to the ground and
I flee to the forest with my daughter to feel
ancient stone, solid earth, something real,
to retain peace, my morning
so sacred an hour before but now alien,
unreal amidst chaos trembling on TV,
plaster carnage, final farewells from the sky
this morning of azure sky,
where I breathe clear air, and rocks stay
in place, what is real
this morning, my morning
so different from the morning
of millions of individuals,
not just in New York
but in Iraq, Columbia,
Afghanistan, Israel,
Palestine, Kashmir
around the globe
bombs and terror rain from blue skies
while I breathe cedar in serene forest.

Am I a selfish escapist?
Or a mother maintaining “normalcy”?
A child obtaining simplicity?
An individual retaining peace amidst war?

I choose peace and reality of earth solidity.
Despite international political uncertainty,
sun and moon still cycle,
nature persists through the smoke and
through the clouds, stars
find spaces to twinkle.

Raw, wild elements have mastered harmony.
I hold light around faith that humans will too.

--written by Diana Tigerlily