In times like these we must beware,
for we know not when end is near,
know your purpose in this world,
for time has come to be sincere.
To all those people fighting bold,
whose days are long and nights are cold,
for you and I they risk their lives,
so now’s the time to make them smile.
Give them strength and power too,
for we know not what they go through.
Show respect, support them too:
to all those angels, we need you.

amid the chaos,
I found peace
Troubled mind;
restless heart;
damaged soul.
All came in piece
but I will not be swayed,
gonna keep the faith
every pain will be worth it.

Words need watering
The garden silently suffering
I hear the cries
**** us
Again
With the kindness of silence
A coup de grace
And not with the slow agony
Of polite distancing
Of lukewarm abstract approval

I reject the comfort of the safe bet
I’ll have
No more stifling of the fire within
I’m dancing on a razor edge
until it bleeds
and then some

Flight 93
by Michael R. Burch

I held the switch in trembling fingers ... asked
why existence felt so small, so meaningless,
like a minnow squirming feebly in my grasp ...

... vibrations of huge engines thrummed my arms
as, glistening with sweat, I nudged the switch
to OFF ... I heard the klaxon’s shrill alarms

like vultures’ shriekings ... earthward, in a stall ...
we floated ... earthward ... wings outstretched, aghast
like Icarus ... as through the void we fell ...

till nothing was so beautiful, so blue ...
so vivid as that moment ... and I held
an image of your face, and dreamed I flew

into your arms ... the earth rushed up ... I knew
such comfort, in that moment, loving you.

NOTE: This poem imagines the struggle in the cockpit for control of the Flight 93 airplane. The terrorists apparently intended to crash the plane into the White House. The heroic passengers kept that from happening, at the cost of their lives. Keywords/Tags: 9-11, sonnet, Flight 93, terrorists, terrorism, heroes, heroism, courage, bravery, loyalty, patriotism, sacrifice, love

It rained today
And I thought of you.
The flashbacks came
Again.
Your voice
Like the thunder.
Your rage
Was the lightning
It rained today
And I forgot about you.
Washed away
And clean.
Like the sidewalk
After the storm is gone.

Why does my fear overrun?
I just want to be honest
And end all the forsaken lies,
But, again, my mind screams and cries,
Looking for a way to hold
Our currently standing ties.

Why be such a coward
When people say
That I’m a fearless Leo,
A Lionlike leader
That fears none which precede her,
And will stand for her rights
As well as uphold her dignity
Across these eternal nights.

I am not a lion...
I am just Aidan.