"Ancient name Avernus. A small crater lake, ten miles west of Naples, Italy; regarded by the ancient Romans as the entrance to the underworld".
It is also the name of one of Louise Gluck's books of poetry. One of the poems that I like is "The Night Migrations", and it's appropriate for today's anniversary.
It's the 10th anniversary, what a strange use of that word, of the attack on the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan. I was 14 blocks north at my job as an Occupational Therapist in a High School for Special Needs teenagers. On that Tuesday morning I was helping the transition from bus to school when I saw a plane flying low. Someone said it crashed into the Twin Towers. I walked over to Hudson Street and saw the second plane hit. I thought war. I looked around for more planes. Back at the school it was primary day, and people had come to vote. Now it was all confusion. We got the students off the buses and into the building. I had my camera, so I went out again. This time to the West Side Highway. The fire trucks and ambulances were racing to the burning buildings. Policemen were running downtown, toward the buildings. Then the buildings fell and now people were walking up towards us, ashen. Clothes and skin were covered with ash. The only noise was the sound of the sirens. We were in shock,. quiet, confused, and scared. I tried to give blood at St.Vincent's but the line was two blocks long.
Today we have word of a possible attack here in NYC or Washington, DC. Someone said that's the cost of being a warrior nation. Perhaps, but people who control through subjection and fear will attack any free country that stands as their polar opposite.
An omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, good or bad. Omens are most often perceived as a bad event as in ominous. The ancient Romans had Augurs to foretell the future. They did it by analyzing the flight of birds. What would they make of those big birds flying from the east, on 9/11? Men so intent on destruction they killed themselves. 9/11 was ominous, but for whom?
From 1941, music by Walter Kent lyrics by Nat Burton. Come now sing out.
There'll be bluebirds over
The white cliffs of Dover
Tomorrow
Just you wait and see.
There'll be joy and laughter
And peace ever after,
Tomorrow
When the world is free,
The shepherd will count his sheep
The valleys will bloom again
And Jimmy will go to sleep
In his own little room again.
There'll be bluebirds over
The white cliffs of Dover,
Tomorrow
Just you wait and see.
Requiem in Pace
