25 Years Later: Remembering the Lives Lost on September 11

“No day shall erase you from the memory of time.” Virgil, The Aeneid

25 Years Later Remembering the Lives Lost on September 11

CNN10 Special Edition: Remembering 9/11, 25 Years Later

September 11: The Names We Carry
Twenty-five years later, we remember. We honor the nearly 3,000 lives lost on September 11, 2001, and hold close their families, friends, colleagues, first responders, survivors, and all whose lives were forever changed by that tragic day. Billy Collins’ profoundly moving poem The Names reminds us that behind the enormity of 9/11 are individual human lives—”citizens, workers, mothers and fathers,” daughters and sons—each with a name, a story, and people who loved them. Its quiet beauty gives language to a grief that still lives in our collective memory and reminds us why we keep saying their names.

The words/quote by Virgil are permanently displayed in the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, with letters forged from recovered World Trade Center steel. The Museum describes the quotation as expressing the promise that those who were lost will never be forgotten. Do visit the 9/11 Memorial & Museum when you visit NYC. It is highly recommended. Remembering 9/11 and the loved ones of all who lost their lives on that tragic day. Read the poignant poem below. We remember. We honor. We will never forget.

The Names – Poem by Billy Collins via Poem-Hunter
Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night.
A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze,
And when I saw the silver glaze on the windows,
I started with A, with Ackerman, as it happened,
Then Baxter and Calabro,
Davis and Eberling, names falling into place
As droplets fell through the dark.
Names printed on the ceiling of the night.
Names slipping around a watery bend.
Twenty-six willows on the banks of a stream.
In the morning, I walked out barefoot
Among thousands of flowers
Heavy with dew like the eyes of tears,
And each had a name —
Fiori inscribed on a yellow petal
Then Gonzalez and Han, Ishikawa and Jenkins.
Names written in the air
And stitched into the cloth of the day.
A name under a photograph taped to a mailbox.
Monogram on a torn shirt,
I see you spelled out on storefront windows
And on the bright unfurled awnings of this city.
I say the syllables as I turn a corner —
Kelly and Lee,
Medina, Nardella, and O’Connor.
When I peer into the woods,
I see a thick tangle where letters are hidden
As in a puzzle concocted for children.
Parker and Quigley in the twigs of an ash,
Rizzo, Schubert, Torres, and Upton,
Secrets in the boughs of an ancient maple.
Names written in the pale sky.
Names rising in the updraft amid buildings.
Names silent in stone
Or cried out behind a door.
Names blown over the earth and out to sea.
In the evening — weakening light, the last swallows.
A boy on a lake lifts his oars.
A woman by a window puts a match to a candle,
And the names are outlined on the rose clouds —
Vanacore and Wallace,
(let X stand, if it can, for the ones unfound)
Then Young and Ziminsky, the final jolt of Z.
Names etched on the head of a pin.
One name spanning a bridge, another undergoing a tunnel.
A blue name needled into the skin.
Names of citizens, workers, mothers and fathers,
The bright-eyed daughter, the quick son.
Alphabet of names in a green field.
Names in the small tracks of birds.
Names lifted from a hat
Or balanced on the tip of the tongue.
Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory.
So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart.

*This poem is dedicated to the victims of September 11 and to their survivors. Billy Collins

“Even the smallest act of service, the simplest act of kindness, is a way to honor those we lost.” President George W. Bush

25 Years Later Remembering the Lives Lost on September 11

9/11 Tribute in Light: Live from Lower Manhattan

Twenty-five years have passed, yet the names remain etched not only in stone, but in our hearts and in the collective memory of a nation forever changed. If you ever come in to visit NYC, do take a moment to visit the 911 Memorial & Museum. May we continue to honor those we lost by remembering how precious and fragile life is, holding the people we love a little closer, and choosing kindness, compassion, service, and unity whenever we can. Time moves forward, as it must, but remembrance asks something of us: to carry their stories with us and never let the passage of years diminish the lives behind the names. We remember them. We honor them. We will never forget.
READ: New York Times: September 11 and the Persistence of Memory
 

Positive Motivation Tip: In memory of those lost on September 11: Remember 911. Never forgotten and always mourned.

PHOTO CREDITS/ATTRIBUTIONS: All Photos:  September 11 via Pixabay, AND   Rebuilt #1WTC,  dust-coveredvictims, Montage, Flight 175 hits WTC South, via Wikipedia…

Until Next Time…
Ask. Believe. Receive. ©
Elizabeth Obih-Frank
Mirth and Motivation
Positive Kismet