A Day to Remember Forever

Did you hear the bell ring for the 9/11 fallen heroes yesterday? 24 years ago, New York City first responders, police, firemen, and newscasters flooded the streets and the media with traumatic news. People ran from their buildings under a shower of dust and darkness. Cement covered the streets as people tried to find a passage over the Brooklyn Bridge. While I did not witness all of this in person, I felt the weight of fear and grief as did the Village of Rockville Centre in Long Island, New York, where I lived. 

Forty-nine people in my village died during the 9/11 catastrophe. The Patch news named it the "deadliest terror attack on American soil". Of those people, Cantor Fitzgerald, American financial services firm, lost the most lives, one of whom was the mother of my daughter's senior high school friend. Because their friend suffered such a loss, my daughter and her two friends organized a candlelight vigil parade. Three hundred people gathered together. Tears flowed throughout this silent passage from the high school througout the village. For a long while life was worrisome. Memorials were erected so people could remember that horrible day in 2001 and be hopeful about the future. 

I remember September 11th each year and so does the world. Families  gather together to honor their fallen loved ones. A bell tolls like the sound of grief. Names of 9/11 victims are read as tears flow like water. Now life continues with a different thought. It is the time to bind the world together as a connected global society. Rid the world of hatred and unkindness to find peace.

September 11th

unpredicable hatred 

swept across the sky

New York City was attacked

fear and sorrow opened their channels

to all fallen heroes

draft CVarsalona, 9/11/2025, cherita

Listen to Fallen Heroes (9-11)

Hope for Tomorrow

Bind the human race into

a connected global society

with hatred extinguished

and unity established.

©CVarsalona, 2025 quick write draft

Thank you to author, poet, and educator, Rose Cappelli, for hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today. She added Mary Oliver's poem that can be a call to action.

A Day to Remember Veterans

On this beautiful spring day, sunshine announces a day to honor all fallen heroes, men and women who died while serving the United States. 

I started my day thinking of my 90-year-old uncle who enlisted as a Marine during World War II and I found a poem written by Commander Kelly Strong, USCG (Ret.) in 1981 when he was a high school senior, a JROTC cadet. 

I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
 and then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform.
So young, so tall, so proud.
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him.
How many died on foreign soil.
How many mother's tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many dies at sea?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No freedom isn't free?

(You can read the rest of the poem here,)

Thank you to my friend, Jo Ann, for sending me this image in gif form this morning. 
DRAFTING A GOLDEN SHOVEL POEM:
Using the strike line, "No freedonm isn't free?, I wrote a golden shovel poem in draft form.

Why do we say no
so often when freedom 
rings strong? Isn't 
it important to be free?

I came back to this draft tonight after my Memorial Day Barbecue and decided to try another Golden Shovel with a different strike line. This one reminds me of all the men and women that enlisted in WWII at a young age but stood so tall and proud as they went off to war.

So young, so tall, so proud.  (strike line)

Today we celebrate in red, white, and blue so
we can honor young,
fallen heroes so
brave as they stood tall
in defense of our freedom-men and women so
eager, full of hope for America, and proud.

Listen to the song Fallen Soldier by Nathan Fair.

May this day lead all of us to consider what war means and how we can become more humane to one another.

Previous poems and digiital inspirations that I have written during Memorial Day Weekend over the past years.

If you would like to know why Memorial Day is a holiday turn read the Wonderopolis Wonder of the Day #1237.

I am sending this off to Two Writing Teachers because it is now the start of Slice of Life Tuesday. 

Remembering Fallen Heroes

We still remember
as the bell tolls
and names are read.

There's still a sadness in hearts on 9/11.

So Many Stories, So Many Hearts Broken!

Remembering 911's fallen heroes,

numbered in the sky and

honored at the village green.
We still remember.
©CVarsalona, 2018, Rockville Centre, NY

I woke this morning to the broadcasting of the Ground Zero ceremony from New York City. As the ceremonial bell rang, the reading of the fallen heroes' names stopped. A stillness surrounded the structure. Tears were shed. The pause was deafening for so many remembered the day that many lives were lost, fathers, mothers, siblings, relatives, and friends. My NYC suburban village was hit hard. Some who perished on 9/11 worked on Wall Street. Others were fire fighters and police. All become our village's heroes.

The short poem above is a compilation of blog titles I have written over the years. Each one a painful memory. Each one a tribute to those who perished, so I ask, "What is needed in this world?" 

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Sharing Acts of Kindness on September 11th!

All of the words in red are blog posts, either at Beyond LiteracyLink or Wonderopolis' Wonder Ground, that I have written on the topic and gathered here to create a poem.

Besides being Patriot Day, it is the Slice of Life Tuesday at Two Writing Teachers. I offer this solemn tribute to those who are remembering 9/11 and to those who are committed to sharing acts of kindness.