"Two Thousand One, Nine Eleven"

Two thousand one,
nine eleven
Five thousand plus
arrive in heaven
As they pass through the gate,
Thousands more appear in wait

A bearded man with stovepipe hat
Steps forward saying,
"Lets sit, lets chat"

They settle down in
seats of clouds
A man named Martin
shouts out proud
"I have a dream!"
and once he did
The Newcomer said,
"Your dream still lives."

Groups of soldiers
in blue and gray
Others in khaki,
and green then say
"We're from Bull Run,
Yorktown, the Maine"

The Newcomer said,
"You died not in vain."
From a man on sticks
one could hear
"The only thing we have to fear.

The Newcomer said,
"We know the rest,
trust us sir,
we've passed that test."
"Courage doesn't hide in caves
You can't bury freedom, in a grave,"

The Newcomers had heard
this voice before
A distinct Yankees twang
from Hyannisport shores
A silence fell within the mist

Somehow the Newcomer
knew that this
Meant time had
come for her to say
What was in the hearts of the
five thousand plus that day

"Back on Earth, we wrote reports,
Watched our children
play in sports
Worked our gardens,
sang our songs
Went to church
and clipped coupons

We smiled, we laughed,
we cried, we fought
Unlike you, great we're not"

The tall man in the
stovepipe hat stood and said,
"don't talk like that!
Look at your country,
look and see
You died for freedom, just like me"

Then, before them
all appeared a scene
Of rubbled streets
and twisted beams
Death, destruction,
smoke and dust
And people working
just 'cause they must

Hauling ash, lifting stones,
Knee deep in hell
But not alone

"Look! Blackman, Whiteman,
Brownman, Yellowman
Side by side helping
their fellow man!"
So said Martin,
as he watched the scene
"Even from nightmares,
can be born a dream."

Down below three firemen raised
The colors high into ashen haze
The soldiers above
had seen it before
On Iwo Jima back in '44

The man on sticks studied
everything closely
Then shared his perceptions
on what he saw mostly
"I see pain, I see tears,
I see sorrow - but I don't see fear."

"You left behind husbands and wives
Daughters and sons and so many lives
are suffering now because of this wrong
But look very closely. You're not really gone.

All of those people,
even those who've never met you
All of their lives,
they'll never forget you
Don't you see what has happened?
Don't you see what you've done?

You've brought them together,
together as one.
With that the man in the
stovepipe hat said
"Take my hand," and
from there he led
five thousand plus heroes,
Newcomers to heaven
On this day, two thousand one,
nine eleven.

God Bless America!!!!