Yesterday in New York

Early this morning as I sat outside sipping my morning coffee, I glanced up at the sky and took this photograph. Yesterday was raining; today the clouds began to lift and the sky unfolded to resemble the one I remember so clearly from this day, 14 years ago.

I remember, after being nearly hypnotized by the images unfolding live on television, suddenly feeling an overwhelming urge to get outside. I took my dog outside for a walk and glanced up at the sky, which was bright and crisp with barely a hint of clouds. It was astounding and unimaginable to me that on such a flawless day, just 40-odd miles from my home thousands of lives were, at that very moment, being altered, lost and forever changed. A day that began just like all the others before it, but would never begin the same going forward.  I couldn’t smell the smoke, nor could I hear the screams, but I, like everyone else, felt the pain and horror so very acutely.

And just as I did 14 years ago, today I reflected;  remembering the day before, 14 years later.

******

Yesterday in New York City

The skies opened and wept

Remembering all those years ago

When sunny skies deceived us

On a bright, crisp, rather ordinary day.

That day was indistinct from so many others in September

That  we barely even noticed it

Until it turned dark and menacing.

An otherwise ordinary day abruptly changed into one of unimaginable horror.

If you knew what was to come tomorrow, would you

Weep today?

Or instead, would you make the day sunny,

Even if it wasn’t,

Make the day joyous,

Even if you felt sad.

If you thought today was ordinary,

For no other reason that it existed,

Would you still celebrate today?

We don’t know what tomorrow brings

And today is all we have.