Hi everyone,

I wrote this poem during the days and weeks following  9/11. If you like it feel free to pass it on.
Peace to you and yours
JT 

There’s a hole in the tip of Manhattan  

A hole in the soul of America.

A hole in the center of our psyche

A hole in the foundation of our confidence

There’s a hole in the faith of our country

That fills churches in search of a God

There’s a crack in the national mirror

Empty chairs around the family table

Dark houses of our missing neighbors

Vacant desks of our absent workers

On our streets,

There’s a wail from the widows with candles

Sobs from the orphaned with pictures

The face breaks on the lawyer, the dead women’s husband

Flags and flowers for the public servants

There’s a hole in the soul of America

Afraid with the televised pictures

Numb with the morning papers

Grieving for the land they loved

Grieving for the land they lost

Grieving for the innocent victims

Grieving for the broken families

Grieving for the friends still weeping

Grieving for the ones who fight fire

Grieving for the ones who fight crime

Grieving for the City that never sleeps

Grieving for the City on a Hill

There’s a hole in the soul of Humanity

And we pray for all of our leaders

Good people and well intentioned

Condemned to retaliation,

Doomed to retribution

Sentenced to seek revenge

And we pray for those who go marching

Toward an enemy they can’t even see

Brave in the shadow of their fathers, Brave in the duty of history

Brave in the Madness, Brave in the Sadness, Brave in the Blindness

And I pray to the Prophets of History

Privy to the word of God

Moses on the Mountain with those 10 commandments 

We all tend to ignore them because their so damn inconvenient

Jesus on the Cross for the Love of his neighbors,

Jesus on the Cross for the Love of his enemies

Mohammed in the Koran with words that escape

Fanatic followers abusing religion with hate

But the Koran is clear: “If you destroy one life it’s as if you destroyed the whole world

If you save one life it’s as if you have saved the whole world”

And God Cries from the tablets on Top of Mt. Sinai

“Save the World”

And God cries His last breath from the Cross on Good Friday

 “Save the World”

And God Cries from the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem

“Save the world”

And God cries and God cries and God cries

There is a hole in the soul of His Children

Love can fill the hole

And God is Love

And we ask; where is God?

Strangers with shovels on the Tip of Manhattan

Fill the hole

Firefighters from Boston and Chicago drive to New York to help find their brothers and sisters

 Fill the hole

Hollywood stars raise millions for victims

Benefits and fund-raisers and letters and cards

Boston Red Sox fans in Fenway Park sing “we love NY”

Fill the hole

And the Mayor

Fills the hole

And the governor

Fills the hole

And the president

Fills the hole

And the media

Fills the hole

The interfaith prayer services on the steps of city hall

Fill the hole

Neighbors in the park with candles

Try to comfort the missing girl’s roommates

She was on the 106th floor that Tuesday morning

Candlelight vigils for peace

Fill the hole; Young people in uniform for war

Fill the hole

 Flags at half mast and flags in our windows

The Star Spangled Banner and the prayer of St. Francis

The Star of David, the teachings of Islam and the Letters of Paul

Fill the hole

And the hole in our soul is our “Cross to bear”

And that “Cross to bear” Fills the Hole