A Call To Arms
--following the terrorist attack
on the World Trade Center
An acrid stench still lingers in the haze
above the twisted wreckage of the towers,
where New York’s Bravest race against the hours
to pull survivors from the tangled maze.
How can we understand the gruesome ways
of zealots who invoke their higher powers,
and follow hateful plans of one who cowers
behind a faith whose God this act betrays?
All freedom loving nations must unite
against the deadly smoke that fouls our mists,
if we are to assuage our loss and pain.
And we must find new strategies to fight
this menacing pollution, which insists
we never breathe that sweeter air again.
--Vaughn Fritts
Huntington, New York
