Regardless of your thoughts about 9/11 — right wing patriotic zealot or left wing patriotic conspiracy theorists — the truth remains that thousands of people died that day and billions of people’s lives have been changed, some forever. This is a poem I wrote a few days after 9/11/01.

Dedicated to the memory of the dead and the memories of the living.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“IX_XI Memorium: Ars Gratis et Humanis”

The world is hemorrhaging…God has let the earth
bleed again.
The ground is soaked red with the cries and
Memories
of many who have fallen,
many who have flown.

Many are laden and weary,
many have grown and been stretched and
many have been planted – deep into the
earth and more so into our memories.

Many are still here.

God has set the world spiraling on a
Beautiful Edge.

And I see the world spinning by
out of my hands. Out of control.
Out of kilter. Out in the wilderness…
to learn lessons of bittersweet confusion and love.

God has let us roam feral in our dark gardens,
digging up the deepest places to find our home,
our truth,

& to learn that Love is a beautiful chaos, a spiritual homecoming,
a poem in the making: logos at work.

It is now that we realize we merely scrape by
along the edges when we try and live, and pray;

mere children searching along
the fringes of our existence
to find words to bleed onto the
pages of the flesh we still cling to…
trying to make sense, trying to make…just trying.

This ritual of poetic prayer is what the
living do, a sort of bloodletting, a sort of prayer.

Some days it is the only prayer that can be uttered…

Praying to be a letter opened. The message: Live.

God has let the world bleed again at the Borderlands
so that we may find the words – the Word – to
bleed truth on to the aging pages of our souls,
and live out our cries of anguish and joy to God.

Yes, pray for their safe return.

No, do not subscribe to the fear-mongering which has lead us to prosecute the “War on Terror” on innocents. Demand an end to the pointless killing in the name of preserving our freedom.

We will never win a war of which the fundamental causes are greed, power-thirst, and perpetuating the oppression of millions by repressive government who are our allies.

The terrorists of 9/11 were murderers, and they deserve no excuses for what they did.

However, the fundamental wounds of the world are poverty and hatred. Until we as Christians come to grips with these, we will never see peace, and we will never have true freedom!

Pray for Peace and Dare to Act!

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2009...

–Our all-volunteer service is made up of Americans of all races, creeds, and economic backgrounds. These soldiers are on the front lines of this battle, and there are others in the fight as well. We must continue to give our utmost support to the United States military and those that support their efforts. In light of this, I have added my name to a letter sent to President Obama urging him to remain committed to prosecuting the War on Terror in Afghanistan. Never have so few defended the liberty of so many. We must continue to support their mission because they will continue to fight for us.

–As we look back to that tragic day eight years ago we take pride in the fact that we came together as a nation in the days, months and years that followed. We rose to the challenge that fateful day and we still can. And why shouldn't we believe that? We are Americans.

–I thank all our servicemen and women, in and out of uniform, for keeping us safe over the last eight years in the face of enormous odds.

–Please thank a veteran today. They certainly do not look for those thanks, but they have more than earned it.

So, to any vets or current soldiers unfortunate enough to find this site, know that there are still many of us out there who are truly grateful to you, for what you have done and what you are doing. We aren't buying the spin, we aren't downplaying what happened. And we hope you win.