I stood frozen in front of the flickering images on my TV. My baby boy, just four, pointed, “Mom! The airplane hit the house!” We'd been watching some kiddie show when the network cut in. I quickly got The Engineer. In horror, we watched the second plane hit. Now we knew this was no freak accident, but the work of those so evil we had no words to describe them. Then in numb disbelief we saw the towers crumble. One, and then the other. We wept as the world we knew was swept away in the wake of the rubble rumbling down the street. Terror hit home that day.
This is Saturday-Centus. You know the drill, prompt, 100 words or less. Don't split the prompt. Today Jenny is honoring the victims of 9/11 by having us recall what we were doing when we heard the news. Write your own, and link up.
Totally not part of Saturday-Centus, but part of my blog, here are the words to Bruce Springsteen's, “Into the Fire”. It's a wonderful tribute to the sacrifices of those fire-fighters first on the scene. May we never forget what they gave.
The sky was falling, streaked with blood
I heard you calling me,
then you disappeared into the dust
Up the stairs, into the fire
Up the stairs, into the fire
I need your kiss, but love and duty
called you someplace higher
Somewhere up the stairs, into the fire
May your strength give us strength
May your faith give us faith
May your hope give us hope
May your love give us love
You gave your love to see,
in fields of red and autumn brown
You gave your love to me
and laid your young body down
Up the stairs, into the fire
Up the stairs, into the fire
I need you near, but love and duty
called you someplace higher
Somewhere up the stairs, into the fire
May your strength give us strength
May your faith give us faith
May your hope give us hope
May your love give us love
It was dark, too dark to see,
you held me in the light you gave
You lay your hand on me
Then walked into the darkness
of your smoky grave
Up the stairs, into the fire
Up the stairs, into the fire
I need your kiss, but love and duty
called you someplace higher
Somewhere up the stairs, into the fire
May your strength give us strength
May your faith give us faith
May your hope give us hope
May your love give us love
May your love bring us love
14 comments:
Thanks for your comments Tina! and thank you for telling us your story . It makes a difference even though I live far away, this weekly prompt is making me feel close in a purposeful meaningful way . I am touched .
Beautiful lyrics. Thanks for sharing them.
Your experience is eerily similar to mine. I'm sure that could be said of everyone. We were bonded like never before in those moments.
We should not lose sight of that.
It really was a horrid day. I remember pacing a lot. I remember even in Northern CA where we lived at the time, everything was shut down. And it was oddly quiet.
It is still so unbelievable to me now some times that this happened.
Yes, we wept. We weep still.
man. reading all these stories tonight is messing me up...remembering that day...i watched the memorial this morning as well...love that you paired springsteens words with this so apropo...and yes i hope that love will carry us and transform us..
I've listened to Bruce sing that song and the others on that CD a thousand times. Somedays it brings peace.
Nice job with the prompt...Peace and blessings
Thanks for the tribute to our fire fighters. Very moving. ~Ames
I thought Bruce's album, The Rising, inspired by 9/11 (I'm assuming the song came from there) really captured so many of the feelings so many of us had. Well done.
That was one horrible day, wasn't it? For weeks afterwords, I walked with eyes staring at the sky fearful of finding stray aeroplanes.
Those lyrics have always moved me to tears.
I'm reading these links several days after 9-11 and am finding comfort in the sense of community we all seem to be sharing this week.
Thank you for your unique remembrance of this world changing event.
Thank you for being you.
I was put right in your situation there in my mind. Must have been hard for your little boy to see that too and not knowing whats really going on.
Lovely lyrics and post.
I sometimes feel sorry for my children because there is is so much around them that wants to rob them of their childhood. I mean mentally and emotionally.
My son wanted to see the DVD I had laying around of the movie 'Flight 93'. He begged to see it. I did not want to look at it again. He looked at it twice. And then retold the story with different outcome: the pilot servived and could land the plane safely in a field in Pennyslvania.
You think you want to know the truth. But sometimes the truth is just too horrible.
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for your kind thoughts on my post.
Thanks to June Freaking Cleaver I got a link to CNN's list of victims and read through all the names from A to Z. Happily, for me, I found no one I knew personally on that list. My friend was not there.
Kramar,
Anna
For the benefit of other readers:
Anna's SC-Remembering 9/11
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