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Memorial Ground Zero - New York October 26 2012

by Zettel 

Posted: 02 November 2012
Word Count: 213
Summary: From a visit to Ground Zero 24 hours before it and Manhattan were pounded by hurricane Sandy
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Memorial Ground Zero- 26th October 2012

So many many names
so many many lives
no more
Names of every race
every faith and every creed
make this place
this precious space
satisfy
a sacred need

There was a Jesus
a Mohammad
too
the paradox of belief
perplexes us
faith that sustains
hearts through grief
and slakes the tears
for those who died
still drove and justified
the hands and minds
of hate that willed
with dedicated skill
the architects of fate
to jubilantly kill

Absence
is their form of presence
now
Footprint pools
fall darkly to
an abyss
of painful memory
If He whom
we should love
must be absent
then they are now
safe with Him
in faith and
remembrance
for eternity

Doubt
though friend
to faith
is enemy to
love
it keeps one pure
the other
insecure
Men who trade trust
for certainty
hope
for guarantee
claim to know God’s will
in wilful
blasphemy

In this place
redolent with souls
ceaseless water
falls
to fold the void
in shimmered light
of cherished
loving
memory
All things we know
must pass
all lives sometime
must end
but we resolve
in honouring love
these many many names
these many many lives
that shone
shall last
missed
but never lost
absent but never
gone






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Comments by other Members



James Graham at 16:03 on 04 November 2012  Report this post
What comes across in this poem is how deeply felt it is - it’s quite possible to visit a place of such huge significance and write something that doesn’t match up, doesn’t carry the feeling, but this certainly does.

There’s a philosophical element too, which I like. Especially the lines beginning

Doubt
though friend
to faith
is enemy to
love


- this strikes me as simply true, and far from being a commonplace thought. Faith is strengthened by doubt, but love is undermined by it. I suppose religious fundamentalists are afraid of doubt because it can ultimately destroy faith. What you say is still true, however; the willingness to confront doubt will strengthen faith.

Then you describe religious fanatics (of any religion, I suppose) as

Men who trade trust
for certainty
hope
for guarantee


and in their absolute certainty commit ‘wilful blasphemy’. Wise words. Anyone who (like myself) has never visited Ground Zero would be sure to share some of the feeling, and necessary reflection, that the place compels.

James.
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Zettel at 11:54 on 05 November 2012  Report this post
Thanks James

This is a very moving place with an intimacy of feeling its sheer scale belies. One cannot help being struck by the contradictions as an even more grand series of towering structures rise in expression of a kind of triumphalism that literally dwarf the memorial pools.

While most visitors seem to embrace the nature of the space, some are taking touristy snaps which jar - though I guess that's inevitable. I wanted to express something of those contradictions in the poem hence the paradox of faith: it's demand of unverified acceptance being illustrated here as the two-edged sword that it is.

best

Z
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Dave Morehouse at 14:07 on 05 November 2012  Report this post
I certainly echo James' thoughts about the intesity of this piece. There seems to be a visual form to it also that mirrors the old tower or the new one being built. Short four-word lines stacked tall like building blocks help set the scene for this poem.

I especially enjoy this section:
the paradox of belief
perplexes us
faith that sustains
hearts through grief
and slakes the tears
for those who died
still drove and justified
the hands and minds
of hate that willed
with dedicated skill
the architects of fate
to jubilantly kill


The double entendre of the word "architects" and the contrasting grief and jubilance in this section shows a divide, even a wall, between cultures and ideologies. Well done. Dave
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Zettel at 16:16 on 05 November 2012  Report this post
Thanks Dave. Appreciated

Z
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V`yonne at 17:26 on 08 November 2012  Report this post
There's a lot to think about here but it reads so well textuarally that one at first simply enjoys the richness and rhythms you've set up. Beneath that is a wealth of meanings and shades of truth that are well worth rereading
Men who trade trust
for certainty
hope
for guarantee
claim to know God’s will
in wilful
blasphemy

So true!
And the section Dave highlighted also impressed itself upon me.

Is there a word missing here? Didn't read quite finished to me.
shall last
missed
but never lost
absent but never
gone
Read the WriteWords interview with Oonah Joslin (V`yonne)
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