With Respect for All

For the Lost
by L.F. Gerace

Why was I so lucky
allowed to remain
my life spared
unbroken

Helplessly watching
their desperate finality
burning, collapse,
devastation

Grieving for the ones
left behind to wonder
why the most painful questions
have no real answers here

Struggling to overcome the sorrow
indelible, inescapable, relentless
while trying to be present
in every moment
of every day

Living in a world
in such need of humanity
makes me wonder today
if hate might not be stronger than love

But live your life
and revel in the good…
the lost would not want it to end this way
_______________________________________________

I wrote this a few months after 911.
Sometimes it seems like there is no reprieve.