copyright Publish America, 2003
TAKING FLIGHT
I’m no hero
I’m just a simple man
Not part of a grand design
No player in a master plan
I go to work every day
Sometimes I walk through fire
We are each other’s safety net
When you have to walk that wire
And I knew this day would come
When we’d make a stand, but lose the fight
When the sky would touch the ground
And we’d be taking flight
Taking care of the city
Is how we take care of each other
The same way you look out for your sister
The way you’re there for a brother
One who wears this uniform
Is my family here and now
I will stand for you as you stand for me
We’ll never have to ask why or how
You will never have to wonder what will happen
If one day you cannot be here
You’ll know we’re watching out for your wife and little ones
So they’ll know you’re always near
And I’m no hero
Just an ordinary man
I’m just like you
Trying to do the best I can
I go to work every day
Some days I walk through fire
My brothers and sisters are my safety net
When I’m walking on that wire
Deep down I always knew this day would come
When we’d make that stand, but lose the fight
When somehow the sky would find the ground
And we’d be taking flight
To me it was an honor
Though some will call it sacrifice
When you hold that vow deep inside
Sometimes you will have to roll the dice
And I’m no hero; I’m not
I’m just a simple man
I’ve never stopped to consider a grand design
Or wondered of my part in some god’s plan
I went to work that morning like every day
To once more walk through fire
Knowing we were each other’s safety net
I am proud to have walked that wire
That day, it seemed, was bound to come
We made our stand, but lost the fight
As I closed my eyes, the sky touched the ground
And we were taking flight
LETTERS FROM GROUND ZERO
I am still calling
But there’s no one left to hear
Sand slips from the hourglass
The end crawls ever nearer
Time travels in a circle
Moving neither forward nor back
Just around and around
Bearing down this track
It could have a minute passing
It could have been a day
It could have been a lifetime
That I watched slip away
We climbed almost to the top
We were very nearly there
Passing a wasteland of destruction
Pain and death were everywhere
This giant watchdog of my city
Staggered but could not find ground to stand
In a shower of steel and humanity
Someone touched my outstretched hand
We were falling together
As the world was falling apart
The longest moment of my life
As the end began to start
Chaos gave way to silence
As soft as a final breath
A silence worse than any wave crashing
A stillness filled with only death
In my mind I was still calling
But there was no one there to hear
Sand spilling from an hourglass
The end was crawling ever nearer
In this nowhere land, time travels in a circle
Marching neither forward nor back
Just around and around again
Screaming down the track
How many did we save
How many were left to rescue
How many lives were spared
Before the fire spread and grew
It could have been but a moment passing
It could have been an endless day
It could have been a lifetime
I watched burn and twist away
We fought our way to the top
We were very nearly there
Passing a wasteland of shattered dreams
Devastation and despair
These twin giants of the city
Now a funeral pyre
Testimony to those lost forever
In an inferno of hate and fire
It might have been a single moment
It might have been only a day
Thousands of lives and lifetimes
And outstretched hands that never found the way