The Stars and Stripes, the Red, White and Blue
Projects the country’s image on whole cloth
That never seemed as vivid, dear and true
As now I mourn five thousand souls lost,
Whose wildest fears did not imagine flights
Outbound of Boston smashing New York towers
Igniting them in smoke and fire, or white
Hot steel collapsing like flags at sunset hours;
And never more alive are those, the dead
Who rose September Eleven to live a day
But now inspire legions seeing red
Until the terror-makers end their days.
O say I can see Glory in the lead
Above a country called to reveille.

 

 

November 11, 2001
Ernest Cardenas, San Francisco