September 11, 2001.Photograph from September 11
Wislawa Szymborska
They jumped from the burning floors--
one, two, a few more,
higher, lower.
The photograph halted them in life,
and now keeps them
above the earth toward the earth.
Each is still complete,
with a particular face
and blood well hidden.
There's enough time
for hair to come loose,
for keys and coins
to fall from pockets.
They're still within the air's reach,
within the compass of places
that have just now opened.
I can do only two things for them--
describe this flight
and not add a last line.
A colleague used the German word weltschmerz when the the anniversary of September 11 came up over lunch. She said it means world grief or world sorrow. Answers.com defined weltschmerz as sadness over the evils of the world, especially as an expression of romantic pessimism.
I can't say I have the words to express the terror and outrage and grief of the day, the aftershock, the new reality, nor the consequences thereof for the last decade.
I have my own small memories.
And, I am grateful the poet did not add a last line.
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