9/11 The Day that Changed the World - A View from the Harbor

Almost ten years ago on  9/11/01  after all of the events happened that day I watched the news as search lights flooded ground zero, the chirping of downed firefighter alarms was still ringing in the evening.    I sought solace in prayer and then turned to pen and paper to get my thoughts down and get them out.  Writing can be cathartic, especially times when you are overwhelmed with emotions.  I had seen a picture that day of the Statue of Liberty as the 2 towers burned and at once it struck me she was a witness to the day just as were we, what would she say, like all Americans that day she watched the events unfold, all of America on television, while she stood at her post in the harbor. I turned first to the sonnet written by Emma Lazarus in 1883 "The New Colossus" that appears in Bronze at the bottom of the Statue of Liberty - after reading this and reviewing it I began to put words down on all she saw that day.

"The New Colossus"

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus, 1883

A View from the Harbor, Smoke at the Golden Door
Darren W Stewart 9/11/01

Welcoming those that came before
My torch beside the Golden door
Burning bright this clear morn
the September my heart was torn
Twin Citadels, towering, etching sky
ablaze this day, billowing high
the tempest-tost, the sirens wail
the bravery true freedom's hail
Weeping, mourning I lift my light
my torch once hope, now breaks the night
for those to search to hear a heart
My light still burns I won't depart
I stand still proud, full of hope
for the ones left behind to cope
with such tragedy, injustice, fear
Let those that witnessed draw near
And through the tears and the flames
let me stand still brightly without my frame
of towers on the shore now and forever more
and my essence still doth freedom ring.