It's like a dream that happened once - It doesn't seem real
Any more
No matter how  hard I fight to hold onto the clarity
Of your image
Your face is fading -

And the memories are surreal

There is so much I wish I could have said.  I can only hope
That you knew
I wanted it to be different as much as you did

And I miss you

I'll think of you.  Your face (as best as I can remember it)
Will enter my mind
When I least expect.   When I hear that song
Or when I'm walking down those streets you and I once
Walked together.  I'll think of
You

And I'll smile

A thunderous blast.  The helpless eyes of a nation look on
In horror
Twin brother's crash.  Countless victims  - all with a story
That ended too soon
The world has been shaken.  Camelot is gone.  Innocence
Lost

God Bless America

Vacant eyes.  Silent streets.  A day of mourning and
Remembrance
Tearful embraces.  Candlelight vigils.  Flags wave from
Coast to Coast
Black and white become one.  Bitter parties unite and
Sing

God Bless America

911.  The call went out and the nation responded by the tens of
Thousands
Hands grasped all across the land.  They can crash our buildings
And steal
The ones we love.  But they cannot take our memories or break
Our spirit

God Bless America

A thunderous blast.  911. The day has been embedded into our
Souls
Let it not embitter us but teach us.   Hatred destroys.   Love
Heals
And faith rebuilds.  Let us extend our hands in unison and
Pray

God Bless America

This was written in loving memory of Robert J Fangman, who died on flight 93

If I could build my own world - you'd be in it
If I could create my own destiny - you'd be
The light at the end
If I had any input with time
And the rules she creates -

I'd have set it all up differently

But, I am a mere mortal
Bound
By own limitations - and you
Are just a man
Chained in your obligations -

Why didn't you say goodbye?

I didn't see you coming until I stumbled into your
Eyes
I didn't notice you leaving - only felt the space
When you were gone
And the whirlwind of passion and
Pain

Love is always that way - a moment
We hope to build into a lifetime
And then - the questions
There are always the questions

Could  it have been different -
In another place and time?
Do you miss me -
At all?
Does the night wind ever call
My name?

We always need to know - but we can never
Be sure
We can only hope and tell ourselves until we believe it
That we mattered
That our life touching theirs held
Some meaning

This is all we can hope for - really
In the end

I remember running through the grass,  chasing fireflies
With you by my side
I was so innocent then.  Nothing could harm me.   And nothing
Was out of my reach

Now, as I go walking through the green grass of yesterday
Encompassed by the sweet
Aroma of childhood.  I fall back in time
I'm eleven

Chasing cray fish in the creek
Thirteen
Sledding down a grass hill on a cardboard box
Fifteen
Hanging out in the woods with 50 of my closest friends
Can I stop time right here?

All I ever wanted was to be accepted -
To be loved
Don't we all?   Do we all try so hard?
I was not myself
I was the person I thought they wanted me to be -
I was a hologram

What I though was love was desperation
What I thought was intimacy
Had no depth at all.  I was drowning
In shallow waters

My lifeline was a rock.  My saviors
Were pulling me down
I lost so much in those waters.  So many faces washed
Away
Nothing lasts forever - and nothing hurts more
Than this hole you've left in my heart

Sometimes, I wish I could be a child again
Just to see your face
Why do things have to change?
Why can't we find that one perfect place
And stay there for infinity
Forever surrounded by the scent our first rose
The warmth of our first kiss?

But this is not God's plan.  Everything
Changes
We live.   We die.   And a child
Is born

This is the circle of life

I used to believe life was a journey to that one special place in time
Our happily ever after
Now I see life as a series of moments woven into the tapestry
Of our soul
We learn and we grow through the good times
And the bad
The laughter.   And the tears.   The tragedies
And triumphs
It's all a part of who we are

I no longer believe that it is possible to fail
As long as we try
It is not possible to lose.   As long as we love
We need to take every moment and squeeze out everything
It has to offer.   Then, we need to be willing to accept
When it's gone.   And move on -

To the next moment

I see the rain coming down.  Hear windshield wipers
Slapping time
On a cold and rainy Christmas Eve
I feel your hand in mine
I see the love on your face through the eyes of a child
I feel the warmth of your insecure smile
From that moment I knew.   You loved me

The best way you knew how to

I've carried that memory in my mind.  Through all of these
Years
I've cherished it.  Hugged it.  Nourished it.  Erased doubts
From my mind with it
Your life was a mystery.   So many things I never knew
In the shadow of silence you hid
I couldn't break through
Though you never had much to say
Deep inside I always knew
You loved me

The best way you knew how to

So many years.  So many words unsaid.  Cards unsent
And lost
I think of the space and the silence and all that
It cost
I've learned that time is priceless.   Regrets pointless
But too often relentless
I can only hope you knew that I loved you =
Because and in spite

The best way I knew how to