SEPTEMBER 11 STATISTICS

Don’t think of a number – think

of each person

stopped in mid-life

almost like Pompeii

frozen forever by the heat

an investment banker stepping

from the shattered window

into the agitated sky

knowing he will die

and preferring this

final

choice

a lawyer calling her husband

from her cellular

in the plane’s toilet,

risking the chance

of worse terrorist ire

to spread the news for others

to be the messenger of Job

an expecting father

calling his wife

from

within the inferno

to comfort her

in his last moments

and the beginnings

of a new life

each person

touched by this day,

September 11, þ2001,

has touched the lives

of millions of others

for generations.