Mark I. Kirkmeyer

NOT KNOWING

On this anniversary
To remember those lost
I can sympathize and understand
The dreaded family cost

It’s not the loss
That hurts the most
It’s the not knowing
That tears the host

In shocked disbelief we watched
The first sister burn, the second hit
There is destruction and death
Hades will be happy in it

It’s not the loss
That hurts the most
It’s the not knowing
That tears the host

Asguard, Elysian Fields, Happy Hunting Grounds
Those lost can go there
We who were left behind
Have to struggle, have to care

It’s not the loss
That hurts the most
It’s the not knowing
That tears the host

Did they pass, Irish wake?
Are they still with us
On this plane unable to speak
Body broken, torn and trussed

It’s not the loss
That hurts the most
It’s the not knowing
That tears the host

I had grown attached to her
She filled my life with cheer
After years of solitude in a cave
She gave me confidence to appear here

It’s not the loss
That hurts the most
It’s the not knowing
That tears the host

The last time we had chance to talk
She told me she was headed for surgery
Six weeks without word or note
Tugs at my spirit makes me worry

It’s not the loss
That hurts the most
It’s the not knowing
That tears the host

©Copyright September 2002 by Mark I. Kirkmeyer

THEY READ HIS NAME

I found out today
I knew one greatest price to pay
He was lost in the twins
I don’t know, working or charging in
Lost contact for many years, a shame
This morning they read his name
His face appeared in my minds eye
It wouldn’t leave though I try
He was young, naive on the edge
A butterbar fresh from college
Hardening like concrete cure
When I received my transfer
On the DMZ, to busy to think of him
Not a thought, not even a whim
Until this morning I heard his name
Doing his job not thought of fame

©Copyright September 11, 2002 by Mark I. Kirkmeyer

Author’s Note: Dedicated to Lt. P, lost in the World Trade Center

TEARS FALL

Today I was cleaning
Older posts
I went through 9/11
Tears fall
It’s still hard
And the poets
So good
Holding emotions
In their words

CHEERS AND TEARS

What is September to me
It has changed with time you see
As a child it was back to school
To get the educational tool

It is Victory over Japan
Those men stuck to a plan
Thousands of people turned to ash
A hope that this would be the last

Finishing my second cup of coffee
I can’t believe what I see
“The pilot really screwed the pooch”
Then came plane number two

“We are under attack”
Sitting in shocked wonder
Glued to the TV set
As the rescue task is met

As the first tower begins to fall
The phone rings and I answer the call
“Have you seen the news”
I couldn’t miss it even if I choose

We need people at the airport
Twenty minutes later I report
The terminals are a mass of confusion
At the tarmac becomes congestion

It is a time to stand and cheer
For those who protect us far and near
And time to bow our head and shed a tear
To the rubble and ash of the tower of fear.