Remembering September11th

Still so gently o’er me stealing,
Mem’ry will bring back the feeling,
Spite of all my grief revealing,
That I love thee, - that I dearly love thee still.
Opera of La Sonnambula

As surgeons keep their instruments and knives always at hand…..
So shoudst thou have thy thoughts ready to understand things divine and human,
remembering in thy every act, even the smallest, how close is the bond
that unites the two.
Marcus Aurelius

A place in thy memory, dearest,
Is all that I claim;
To pause and look back when thou hearest
The sound of my name.
Gerald Griffin

But memory blushes at the sneer
And honor turns with frown defiant,
And freedom, leaning on her spear,
Laughs louder than the laughing giant.
Oliver Wendell Holmes

Yet, freedom! Yet thy banner, torn, but flying,
Streams like the thunder-storm against the wind.
George Gordon Noel Byron, Lord Byron

A song for our banner! The watchword recall
Which gave the republic her station:
“United we stand, divided we fall!”
It made and preserves us a nation!
George Pope Morris

No gilded dome swells from the lovely roof to catch the morning or evening
beam; but the love and gratitude of united America settle upon it in one eternal
sunshine. From beneath that humble roof went forth the intrepid and unselfish
warrior, the magistrate who knew no glory but his country’s good; to that he
returned, happiest when his work was done. There he lived in noble simplicity,
there he died in glory and peace. While it stands, the latest generations of the
grateful children of America will make this pilgrimage to it as a shrine; and
when it shall fall, if fall it must, the memory and the name…shall shed an
eternal glory on the spot.
Edward Everett, 1789, on George Washington and Mount Vernon, in his “Oration on the Character of Washington”.

True today, 213 years later, of the World Trade Center and the many heroes who gave their all.

Like two arms stretching to the heavens
The towers at the edge of the city
Greeted the rising and setting of the sun
Each new day

These masterful arms greeted the light
Of the moon which gave light and romance to the city

These outstretched arms welcomed and embraced
Thousands of beating hearts each day
Which kept hopes and dreams
Circulating throughout the world

These prayerful outstretched arms
Sustained the wind, rain and snow
They rhythmically moved gently
With the force of storms and nature

Suddenly, one day without warning,
As these arms were preparing to greet the sun,
They were struck with a devastating pain
That they could not withstand

They had been wounded
By unconcerned men with flying missiles
Quickly, the towering arms dropped down
To the side of the city,
Lady Liberty turned her head and wept

Thousands came to aid the wounded towering arms
As they laid there, twisted and broken
Brave firemen and policemen rushed to the scene and vanished
Doctors, nurses, iron and construction workers and many others, cried over them

As days passed, and the dust and flames settled
Those same disfigured arms
That once greeted the sun and moon
Took a deep breath
And the steady heartbeats of visionary workers
Began to resurrect them

The spirits of the men and women
Within those wounded arms
Refused to lose faith in God
The spirit of the city was still alive and well
And like a STARFISH was determined
To grow New ARMS

Gerald W. Deas, M.D.
Director of Health Education Communication
SUNY Downstate Medical Center