I AM WITNESS

A group of Nazis mourn the loss
of some fallen in a torch-lit synagogue,
a Jewish man weeps for a lost Arab
in a candlelit mosque and embraces me—
one more lifetime swallowed up.
I am witness to things beyond my control.

I am reunited with a friend for lunch
in a crowded cafeteria,
I watch the birth of my first child
without seeing the face of the mother—
take me back to where I came from.
I am witness to things beyond my understanding.

(September 21, 2009)

REFLECTIONS ON SEPTEMBER 11TH

I laid my head down on a fall afternoon,
there is little for me to mourn anymore.
Those years are waves crashing
on some distant shore, a foreign land.
I gazed so long into the peaceful blue sky,
it seemed like I wasn’t here anymore.
There is something different
to be remembered. Mine is a passive thought
for others, but late at night on the TV,
the emotions on peoples’ faces are still raw,
the bell still ringing.

(September 12, 2009)