Remembrance

Acrid fumes creep in the blue sky.
The world is white with dust;
buildings, planes, bodies
fall in showers,
flooding streets, lining lungs.
No escape.
No angle proves better,
no perspective any less horrific than the last.
Where two giants stood,
death now presides.
Flames play tag in smoky plumes,
spreading pain through city line.
Humanity, shattered.
In one day,
in one second,
in one life.
Screams echo realization,
the truth of catastrophe binding hearts in fear.
No hope can struggle through the din.
No part of this Hell can burn.
Ripples run in waves of ash,
people scatter from falling doom.
Salty tears multiply to wash the evil away.
On every corner wait memories;
of those lost,
of those found,
of those that loved,
of those that leaped.
Agony is still a bitter taste,
standing sentry against happiness' plea.
Freedom held captive by debris' last breath,
unable to fight against its bonds.
People forever changed by the eyes of hate.
In one day,
in one second,
in one life.