Saturday, September 11, 2010

In Memoriam

Perfect day dawned in brilliant blue,
shocking canvas of contrast: planes
fly black against far-flung heaven.
Even unbelieving prayer
muttered with quiet resigned breaths
can not foretell or forestall stains

gouging ground, splintering sky, staining
steel, scuttled lives, exhaling blue,
imploding in hydraulic breaths
screaming through city, hill, and plain.
Common words, sweet sacred prayers
lip-synched by believers heaven

sent from hell to transform heaven
marked by the golden crescent, stain
of a singular god and prayer,
cloaked in cheap polyester blue,
costume of the West, boarding planes
inhaling, exhaling, one breath

holy comingling with all breaths,
lifting as one to make heaven
on earth, to be done, in the plane.
It is foretold, on pages stained
sepia older than time, blue
ink and red seeping in prayer.

Father, mother, children all - pray
the ancient songs with soft breaths,
for God cannot hear in this blue
twilight; sing who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name, thy love stained
by unseen portents, for the plane

is a steel-bound casket, the plane
pulses with souls insistent, prey
trembling, mortal flesh and smoke-stained,
metal-wrapped in a dragon’s breath.
For the meek, the blessed, to heaven
will float ashen to brilliant blue.

Blue sky trailed by white plane flumes
marking a heaven all pray exists;
God’s breath stained by metal and fire.


***

Remember.



Peace, Linda

9 comments:

  1. Beautiful, Linda. The gorgeous words build, get more intense. And then these words took my breath away:

    is a steel-bound casket, the plane
    pulses with souls insistent, prey
    trembling, mortal flesh and smoke-stained,
    metal-wrapped in a dragon’s breath.
    For the meek, the blessed, to heaven
    will float ashen to brilliant blue.

    A fitting tribute. Well said.
    Peace to all on this day.

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  2. Beautiful. Powerful. The detail of blue running throughout is striking.

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  3. Wow. I found this one really intense and the play on the word blue is really good.

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  4. Linda, this is so beautiful. The way you evoked the blue is a stark reminder of what a beautiful day it was, the sky so clear and blue, before it was stained with smoke. It seemed almost insulting that the sky could stay blue amongst all that dark.
    Thank you for this.

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  5. You wouldn't think it would be easy to forget but in fact it seems that people can and do. We have to remind ourselves.

    Thanks for these words, Linda.

    Jai

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  6. Thank you all for reading and for remembering.

    This was the first time I've tried a sestina. It's a tough form (for me at least, others seems to whip them out), but it's beauty is in the repeat of the words; hence, the theme of blue (among others).

    This still needs a lot of work, but it embodies much of what I remember and grieve about September 11, 2001. Peace...

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  7. "prayers lip-synched by believers heaven sent from hell to transform heaven"

    Those words stand out for me, since everyone has "heaven" and "hell" within them. This is a tough subject and I like that you chose a tough form to share it.

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  8. Fitting tribute. Thank you for sharing.

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