Here's a poem I wrote shortly after 9/11/01...
WAITING WITH ARMS OUTSTRETCHED
Written in the wake of the September 11, 2001, Attack
on America
We’ve been told God
doesn’t belong in our schools
He doesn’t belong in
public buildings
not in the town square,
not at baseball games
We may not pray to Him in
our classrooms
His Name has been shushed
from graduations
Our witness at work has
been silenced
Crèches and menorahs have
been removed from government properties
and replaced with
roly-poly Santas, tinseled trees and dreidels
Christmas and Hanukkah
have been neutered
with wishes of “season’s
greetings,” “happy holidays”
We’ve been closeted by the
separation of church and state
in this free country
founded as a safe haven for religious freedom
but
when those 767s flew into those magnificent towers, September 11th
when
those great towers imploded, when thousands died tragically
and
shockwaves of grief and terror riveted our planet
suddenly
our churches filled
God’s
name arose boldly on banners all across the land
It
was posted, plastered, scrawled and spoken
prayed
to by the President, our leaders, newsmen
It
appeared on school message boards
bumper
stickers, lapel pins, buttons
It
was superimposed upon flag decals glued to our windowpanes
It
was emblazoned upon our chests on patriotic T-shirts
and
it appeared over and over and over on subway prayer walls
along
with Scotch taped photos of those who were missing
Thousands
proclaimed it loud and clear
at
candlelight vigils and a prayer service at Yankee Stadium
and
we all sang it with tears
“God
Bless America,” our truer anthem
If we’ve been complacent;
if we’ve swept Him aside
packed Him away in attic
trunks
with things we thought we
wouldn’t need anymore
He’s waiting with arms
outstretched
love streaming from His
eyes
and we need Him to heal
our shattered hearts
Oh,
let’s keep the “God Bless” in our “America”
and
Americans, let us “Bless God”
O
let us never let go of Him again
Maude Carolan
Visit my website...
and information about ordering my books.
Go to www.maudecarolanpych.net
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