Poem for 9/11: 'Ultimatum For Man'

Subject: Poem for 9/11: 'Ultimatum For Man'
From: Marion
Date: 13 Sep 01 - 07:56 PM

Ultimatum for Man

Now the frontiers are all closed.
There is no other country we can run away to.
There is no ocean we can cross over.
At last we must turn and live with one another.

We cannot escape any longer.
We cannot continue to choose between good and evil
(the good for ourselves, the evil for neighbors);
We must all bear the equal burden.

At last we who have been running away must turn and face it.
There is no room for hate left in the world we must live in.
Now we must learn love. We can no longer escape it.
We can no longer escape from one another.

Love is no longer a theme for eloquence,
or a way of life for a few to choose whose hearts can decide it.
It is the sternest necessity; the unequivocal ultimatum.
There is no other way out; there is no country we can flee to.
There is no man on earth who must not face this task now.

Copyright © 1976 by Peggy Pond Church

Subject: RE: Poem for 9/11: 'Ultimatum For Man'
From: GUEST,Genie
Date: 14 Sep 01 - 12:32 AM

Thanks for posting this. Genie

Subject: RE: Poem for 9/11: 'Ultimatum For Man'
From: Genie
Date: 11 Sep 07 - 02:34 PM

Marion, have you ever done this poem as a song?

Which begs the question:   Should poetry threads be above the line, with the music threads, or down below with the prose and general "breeze shooting?"

Subject: RE: Poem for 9/11: 'Ultimatum For Man'
From: Genie
Date: 11 Sep 07 - 02:37 PM

Nivver mind.

(The link I clicked to find this poem was in a thread in the BS section. I didn't realize that the poem thread itself was already up with the music threads. So I guess my Q's already been answered.)

Subject: RE: Poem for 9/11: 'Ultimatum For Man'
From: beardedbruce
Date: 11 Sep 07 - 02:43 PM

Sonnet 15/09/03        On 9-11                DCCCXLIX

Two years have passed, the dust has cleared away,
The wreckage all removed. Yet, are we changed
From what we were before? What can we say,
To families with futures rearranged?

Two years have passed, but are we still afraid
To face unreasoned hate? Can we ignore
That others find out freedoms foul, and prayed
To kill our children, to our pain ensure?

Two years have passed, and ghosts are quiet, but
What have we done to give them any rest?
Has a swift sword of justice struck, to cut
Down those that hurt us, or have we failed test?

How can we rebuild all those lives cut short?
What future remains while such evils sport?

Subject: RE: Poem for 9/11: 'Ultimatum For Man'
From: bankley
Date: 13 Sep 07 - 12:14 PM

Shadow of the Twins

Another puff of smoke from a grassy knoll ???
It's the Dick and Rudy show........

It was a clear sunny morning, the sky smooth as satin
Next to nobody heard a warning before the darkness hit Manhattan
Near the start of another work week, the first coffee kickin' in
The City was shaking off its sleep in the shadow of the Twins

Business stretched and yawned around temples of the lender
Stocks and bonds soon changing hands on the day after the 10th of September
Plans were set in motion while a hidden predator grins
Like that old 'skull and bones' that landed, and branded
the shadow of the Twins

Meanwhile on the deck of some early Boeing flight
The controls lost all effect, Captain knew something wasn't right
Communications have been compromised while a treacherous ride begins
For flights 11 and 175 on a 'home-run' for the shadow of the Twins

High above the grinding gridlock all around the water coolers
They were filling up on small talk, flashing trinkets from the jewellers
White collars and portfolios, all waitin' for an ill wind to set in
And scatter them on the street below in the shadow of the Twins

Little Nero was busy fiddling while the scenario turned gruesome and gritty
There would be no super-hero to save the souls of Gotham City
Orders were already given to notify the next of kin
After the cavalry torched their own wagons, the sky came rushing in

Great change is born of sorrow when life is torn like some cheap fabric
Authorities lay the blame on a few borrowed middle-Eastern mavericks
They tamper with the evidence that leads straight back to their own sins
While covering up the tracks they left behind in the shadow of the Twins

Now there's just a gaping memory where the towers once shone and stood
It all adds up to Ground Zero in that toxic neighbourhood
They set a charge in the house of cards and watched it all cave in
The perpa-traitors are still at large, hiding in the shadow of the Twins
In the back rooms of Power, the conspiracy still spins
and beats those war drums of revenge,
the never-ending war drums of revenge
from the shadows.....
in the Shadow of the Twins                   rb.