9/11 My Tribute

If you have read my bio you know that I was born and raised in Brooklyn NY. As a child my father had businesses in Manhatten. We often stopped at the construction sight to just sit on the wood pilings and have a Sabarett hot dog and a yoohoo while watching these two grand towers be constructed. It was an amazing sight to see and is forever in my memory. Later in life the restaurant Windows on the World played a key role in my fathers business dealings as guests from over seas were often brought there. It was one of my most favorite times as the adults ate and discussed business I just stared out over the lights of the city in wonderment. Moving forward as a young adult I worked at 11 Broadway in a brokerage while going to college at Fordham University. This is just around the corner in the shadow of the Towers and mere steps to where I often ate my lunch and studied. In 1991 I left NY and moved to FL. 

On Sept 11th I was at a training class in Lakeland Fl for Toyota Motor Corp. My phone rang it was my brother telling me a plane had hit one of the towers...no urgency in his voice. But then it rang again he said brother you need to come home "we are being attacked its a war! the other Tower was hit too" Several other calls my Mom, my Dad, My brother again......this time his voice wavered I knew something was seriously wrong " its gone bro its all gone! I said what do you mean? he said its gone the Towers both came down they collapsed they are all gone! everything all the people its just dust...... As long as I live I never want to hear that tone of terror from anyone. Although at the time my family were not directly effected I knew that somehow we all would be would be as I knew many of my/our friends and some relatives worked in and or very close to the Towers. Unfortunately it turned out to be true. At the time there was no Facebook or Myspace there was classmates.com. and phone directories . Many people reached out there and the contacts came....then the experiences and horror...there are too many experiences relayed to me to write them all ....fiends that made it out from the 17th floor Tower One , a cousin of a dear friend who was one of the first responders perished gallantly only 21 a fire fighter, another childhood friend spared by being late on the BQE...lost 27 members of his staff at Windows on the World, another friend who tragically lost her baby brother, a relative that inadvertently called in sick that day that would have been there....each one set with me very harshly but my family had been spared in comparison to the people that have directly lost a loved one, a brother, a sister a mom, a dad, a grandparent, cousin, aunt, uncle....their lives were inexorably changed on that day, our country was changed, it has effected everyone directly or indirectly. I cannot imagine the immensity of it all for those directly involved. I felt helpless... All I could do was write this poem that I have kept private, read every Sept 11th, said my prayers for all the souls lost and lives changed. This day for some is private for others public, some have had their lives hindered, others have grown stronger, some are stuck some have moved on, some have parlayed it to help others....it is a very individual thing. This poem is not titled, it is on a simple piece of scrap paper stuffed in my desk, it says 4:22 pm on it , has some scratched out lines, it is tear stained, it is fraught with despair and the want for vengence. It may be terrible, it may be great but its mine and how I handle this day. I will be in my backyard under the oak in my prayer spot and I will read this poem aloud as I have done every year. On this tenth anniversary and with an avenue to share I thinks it is time for others to read my poem and hope in my heart that it helps one of you out there that have yet to find solace:

 

   Oh Flag of Ours Standing Proud and Tall

Laughingly in the Face of it All

Our Cause You Stand To Unite

To Let The World Know Our Plight

Listening To Our Cries of Pain and Despair

You Gently Disperse Them into the Air

 

   An Eagle Soars High and Above

A Tear in its Eye For Those We Love

A Piercing Cry Into the Abyss

Releasing Those Souls We Will Forever Miss

Justice and Peace in its Claws Grasp

Those Who Have Crossed Him Will Soon Feel His Wrath.

 

 

By

Stephen Saporito

4:22 pm Sept 11th

 

I hope this makes a difference to someone out there. Dare 2B Different!