In
Remembrance of 9/11
If
I Knew
*
If I knew it would be the last time
That I'd see you fall asleep
I would tuck you in more tightly
and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.
If I knew
it would be the last time
that I see you walk out the door,
I would give you a hug and kiss
and call you back for one more.
If I knew
it would be the last time
I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise,
I would videotape each action and word
so I could play them back day after day.
If I knew
it would be the last time
I could spare an extra minute,
to stop and say "I LOVE YOU"
instead of assuming you would know I do.
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If I knew it would be the last time
I would be there to share your day,
Well I'm sure you'll have so many more,
so I can let just this one slip away.
For surely
there's always tomorrow
to make up for an overnight,
and we always get a second chance
to make everything just right.
There will
always be another day
to say "I love you,"
And certainly there's another chance
to say our "anything I can do?"
But just
in case I might be wrong
and today is all I get,
I'd like to say how much I love you
and I hope we never forget.
Tomorrow
is not promised to anyone,
young or old alike,
And today may be the last chance you get
to hold your loved one tight.
So if you're
waiting for tomorrow,
why not do it today?
For if tomorrow never comes,
you'll surely regret the day.
That you
didn't take extra time
for a smile, a hug, or a kiss
and you were too busy to grant someone,
what turned out to be their one last wish.
So hold your
loved ones close today
and whisper in their ear,
Tell them how much you love them
and that you'll always hold them dear.
Take time
to say "I'm sorry,"
Please forgive me," "Thank You," or "It's OK"
And if tomorrow never comes,
you'll have no regrets about today
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God's Boxes
*
I have in my hands two boxes
Which God gave me to hold.
He said, "Put all your sorrows in the black box,
And all your joys in the gold."
I heeded His words
and in the two boxes
Both my joys and sorrows I stored,
But though the gold became heavier each day
The black was as light as before.
With curiosity,
I opened the black box,
I wanted to find out why,
And I saw, in the base of the box, a hole
Which my sorrows had fallen out by.
I showed the hole
to God, and mused,
"I wonder where my sorrows could be?"
He smiled a gentle smile and said,
"My child, they're all here with me."
I asked, God, why He gave me the boxes;
"Why the gold,
and the black with the hole?"
"My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings;
The black is for you to let go."
We should consider
all of our friends a blessing.
A ball is a circle,
no beginning, no end.
It keeps us together like our Circle of Friends
But the treasure inside for you to see
Is the treasure of friendship you've granted to me.
Two Thousand
One, Nine Eleven *
Two
thousand one, nine eleven
Five thousand plus arrive in heaven
As they pass through the gate,
Thousands more appear in wait
A bearded man with stovepipe hat
Steps forward saying, "Lets sit, lets chat"
They settle down
in seats of clouds
A man named Martin shouts out proud
"I have a dream!" and once he did
The Newcomer said, "Your dream still lives."
Groups of soldiers
in blue and gray
Others in khaki, and green then say
"We're from Bull Run, Yorktown, the Maine"
The Newcomer said, "You died not in vain."
From a man on sticks
one could hear
"The only thing we have to fear.
The Newcomer said, "We know the rest,
trust us sir, we've passed that test."
"Courage doesn't
hide in caves
You can't bury freedom, in a grave,"
The Newcomers had heard this voice before
A distinct Yankees twang from Hyannis port shores
A silence fell
within the mist
Somehow the Newcomer knew that this
Meant time had come for her to say
What was in the hearts of the five thousand plus that day
"Back on Earth,
we wrote reports,
Watched our children play in sports
Worked our gardens, sang our songs
Went to church and clipped coupons
We smiled, we laughed, we cried, we fought
Unlike you, great we're not"
The tall man in
the stovepipe hat
Stood and said, "Don't talk like that!
Look at your country, look and see
You died for freedom, just like me"
Then, before them
all appeared a scene
Of rubbled streets and twisted beams
Death, destruction, smoke and dust
And people working just 'cause they must
Hauling ash, lifting
stones,
Knee deep in hell, but not alone
"Look! Blackman, Whiteman, Brownman, Yellowman
Side by side helping their fellow man!"
So said Martin,
as he watched the scene
"Even from nightmares, can be born a dream."
Down below three
firemen raised
The colors high into ashen haze
The soldiers above had seen it before
On Iwo Jima back in '44
The man on sticks
studied everything closely
Then shared his perceptions on what he saw mostly
"I see pain, I see 20 tears,
I see sorrow - but I don't see fear."
"You left
behind husbands and wives
Daughters and sons and so many lives
are suffering now because of this wrong
But look very closely. You're not really gone.
All of those people,
even those who've never met you
All of their lives, they'll never forget you
Don't you see what has happened?
Don't you see what you've done?
You've brought them together as one.
With that the man
in the stovepipe hat said
"Take my hand," and from there he led
five thousand plus heroes, Newcomers to heaven
On this day, two thousand one, nine eleven
* Author Unknown
