This is my response to this week's SUNDAY SCRIBBLINGS prompt.
What makes it more personally poignant is that we had flown over New York only days before!
I KNEW INSTANTLY.....
I knew instantly….
For most it happened in the blaze of day;
The city bustle made it more Apolalyptic!
For me it happened in the smooth, velvety darkness
Of an Australian night.
I habitually tune-in to British radio
Before I sleep.
No music;
Just the lulling accent
Of my own childhood
Winging it's way over the thousands of miles.
That Britishness is my lullaby,
My return to the womb.
The melifluous tones
Suddenly took on a new urgency!
'We now take you to New York
No lullaby now!
I was awake,
Lying wide-eyed on my pillow.
I shook my husband.
'Wake up!' I cried;
'Something has happened in New York
He grunted and turned over.
'Tell me in the morning' he grumbled
'I was almost asleep.'
Thus it was I crept downstairs
To the television set;
Dimmed light
Dimmed sound.
The smooth velvety darkness
Of an Australian night.
Thus it was I saw
The second plane hit
The second tower!.
For me it was almost peaceful!
So quiet,
So unreal,
So far away.
But, within me,
Wild turmoil.
The whole world should have
Felt my heart-beat.
For I knew, instantly…..
The world had changed for ever.
(My SIMPLY SNICKERS entry is number 234)
12 comments:
I felt the same way...the world had changed for ever.
Nicely comes full cirle...and sadly so true.
I think most of the world's heartbeats were as one on that terrible day.
Wow me too! It came on after Rove. And we watched in horror. Then my kids started asking questions. I watched everything I could in shock for the next few weeks and cried,then I refused to watch any more. I tried to answer, history was made that night and it changed our world.
We live about a mile and a half north of 'ground zero'
23rd St, I had gone to work on Long Island. Robert had just taken the dog for a walk and heard people saying that a plane had hit one of the twin towers and went up to the roof........and saw the second plane come in.......people were crying.
I had to tell my class that something very serious had happened. I had only known them for a week (beginning of the school year). One of the teachers in my dept had to work all day knowing her uncle and cousin were dead.
Day after our daughters 21st birthday...... party cancelled.
Pretty traumatic even remembering it.
It was a Tuesday and I did not go home until Friday.
Everyone in New York was so warm and friendly to one another.
Oddly, that day changed the city in a GOOD way as well as a horrible one.
Could rabbit on a lot more - won't bore you.
Needless to say G.Bush is a disgrace and should be up on charges.
I have hopes of improvement with Obama.
All best wishes
E
This is a very powerful piece. I've wondered what people in other countries thought or felt. I felt exactly the same as you. It was my daughter's birthday. I worked from home and was in my office working away when my son-in-law called to tell me something was wrong. I turned on the television and saw the second plane hit. I freaked because I had a really good friend who worked in one of the towers. Fortunately, her company had moved to New Jersey the month before. It was a very scary time.
It was a great tragedy. I still mourn for the innocent...but I don't blame the president, like one who commented earlier. I'm sure he didn't invite it; blame goes to those who piloted the planes.
Indeed! Nicely told...
it is one of many sad events in the last dozen years! one of those "you know where you were when" days...
Well written piece. That day was, indeed, one of those where you remember exactly where you were when you heard the horrible news.
Well written piece. That was certainly one of those days you remember exactly where you were when you first heard the news.
True, I too shared the shock and grief. And touched reading that you had flown over NY, just days ago.
Post a Comment