A late Summer Tuesday morning
Dawns like those that came before,
People arise to start their day
A last kiss then out the door.
Highways jammed at rush hour
Commuters fill up the trains,
School kids on their busses
The skies fill up with planes.
A breaking news flash bulletin
Interrupts the brand new day,
A plane crash at the Twin Towers
An accident is what they say.
But as reporters and the news crews
And onlookers gawk and stare
A second jet streaks into view -
An explosion engulfs the air.
In the towers its pandemonium
As people scramble to save their lives,
And those who can't escape the blaze
Call those they love
to say goodbye.
On TV the nation's watching
We can't believe what now is clear,
These far-off acts of terror
Have been exacted upon us here.
And now another news flash
As we ponder who's to blame,
The symbol of our strength and might
Has been hit and is in flames.
With the Pentagon burning fiercely
And New York's skyline obscured by black
Only now do we realize -
Our nation is under attack.
As survivors stream down stairwells
New York's Bravest race up the stairs,
Their mission is to save the lives
Of all those trapped up there.
On the streets its utter chaos
Dead and dying lay all around,
Some leap to escape the inferno
Screams and sirens the only sounds.
Each news flash more impossible
Than the one that came before,
The airlines are now reporting
The total missing planes is four.
Where are the hijacked airplanes?
Where will the next disaster be?
And then the first burning tower
Implodes and crumbles on Live TV.
The terror is complete now
The horror beyond belief,
Thousands must have lost their lives
For us watching there's
no relief.
The news keeps pouring in now
Another plane crashed in a field,
But for heroic acts of bravery
Another target it did not yield.
As we dig out 'neath the rubble
And count all that we have lost,
We pray and comfort each other
Try to comprehend the tragic cost.
To the victims and their families
We owe the ultimate debt,
For them we will forever remember -
We will never forget.