Shattered Innocence
Previously held truths invalidated
in a series of fiery blasts,
our fragile sense of invulnerability gone,
we watched, staggered,
as agonizing events occurred before our eyes.
We watch them over and over,
repeated in a loop of horror.
Brave men and women
phoned their loved one to say goodbye,
knowing that life was near its end -
wanting, no, needing, to state their love.
Some, leaping to a terrifying,
crushing certainty,
escaped the flames,
only to fall at their colleague's feet.
Acrid smoke billows;
scraps of paper,
bits of people's lives
litter the streets.
Rubble, resembling ancient,
burning ruins,
marks the space
where the twofold monolith stood;
a bare and empty place
that exposes our souls,
and reflects our too-full hearts.
© Ellie Maziekien
91201