Backward Mutters

A sestina for the 25th Anniversary of 09.11

This poem is a tribute to the victims, rescuers, and survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, and it was written for the 25th Anniversary Memorial Ceremony honoring those victims held at the Public Safety Memorial Park in my hometown of Kernersville, North Carolina.

In the poem, I mention two individuals whose actions have been remembered. In not mentioning other heroes who gave their lives at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon attack, or the crash of Flight 93 near Shanksville, PA, I do not want to diminish the many, heroic acts which took place. One cannot say enough about the first responders, volunteers, military personnel, and citizens who performed heroically and sacrificially. I have not been able to say all that needs saying, but I hope this serves as a start to what needs to be said.

The poem is titled, “Climb.’ You may listen to me read the poem via the player below.

Climb

Just how many steps are enough to climb
In honor of the memory of those who died?
At twenty-five years has it been enough time
For those who ran to, fought back, gave lives?
It has not. It is not too much for us to remember
The victims and heroes of the eleventh of September.
 
We gather here on this mourn of September
To honor the day as the sun climbs,
Recall where we were…doing…what we remember
When we heard the news about all those who died,
Watched desperate rescuers work to save lives,
When all we’d known became another time.
 
When Flight 11 struck, did we know at that time
All we would lose that severe September?
Did we count our loved ones — the gift of their lives?
Did we, when heading out our door, climbing
Into that day, think this might be the day we died,
Tell them we loved them, not forget, but remember?
 
When leaving his home did Welles Crowther remember
To bring that bandana—not forget it this time?
Those he helped save, though he himself died,
Will never forget the man that September
Who in a bandana led them out, then climbed
Back up the stairs to help save other lives.
 
Rick Rescorla had lived many lives,
Fought foreign wars; he still remembered,
Sang “Men of Cornwall steady*….” As he climbed
Leading others out, on his cell for his last time
With his wife, the bride of his September
Saying, “You made my life….” just before it died.

On that day 2,977 people died, 
We stand by this oak** to honor their lives
Those who made a choice before that September
To serve, their duty of love to others remember
Who saw the moment, knew this was the time
To do the hard thing, lay down their life and climb.
 
For the thousands who died, we remember.
As each toll rings lives, tolls for us: it is time,
Honor them this September: choose the others and climb.

11 September 2026, Kernersville, North Carolina

* the song which Rick Rescorla sang, "Men of Harlech" is the tune which follows the poems reading.
**"the oak" is pictured below and is a tree which was grown from an acorn collected from the World Trade Center 9/11 Memorial Plaza.