9/11: The Day The World Changed

One fateful hour of horror!

And the smug safety of every shore

is shattered

The waves of live media-feeds

come crashing in

Smashing our fragile senses

with hyper-dramatic images

Dashing our turbulent emotions

against the rocks of a new reality

 

Symbols of the free world tumble!

At the earthquake's epicentre

            of death and destruction

Leaving nations shaking and shuddering

            with rage and fear

Left to search through the rubble and ruins

            where towers of pride once stood

Hoping for a miraculous rescue

            of their beliefs and way of life

 

The world holds its breath!

As the toll of tragic loss ticks

            like a time bomb

Of grief and mourning and depression

            and hatred and revenge

Some desperately looking for ways

to contain the blast

Others scanning the horizon for a target

            on which to explode

 

The war against terrorism begins!

With a campaign for the ritual slaughter

of a scape goat

And a defiant display of frustrated firepower

            and propaganda sorties

Leaving in its wake a cratered moonscape

            of humanitarian crises

And a minefield of cultural and religious tensions

            that lie unexploded

 

The world has changed forever!

Forcing us to venture beyond the fortress

            of our comfortable self-indulgence

Prompting us to dig deeper than the shallow well

            of our cultural arrogance

Pleading with us to rise up out of the morass

            of our religious intolerance

Helping, in our quest for meaning, to realise

that the enemy is within

Copyright 2001

 

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