The Lightning-Struck Tower

Heavy as September rain
The bodies fall
The spirits rise in a chorusing cloud
of I love yous
into the ether
Into the darkening skies.

The ashes of thousands
drift in the dust that falls over the city now
As the tears keep falling
and we begin to mend the broken pieces of ourselves
Weaving over the holes.

Friends, we stand in the center of the Tower
struck by lightning.
Don’t go backward, into the Devil’s lies
about your separateness
Nor lay around your necks his chains of fear.

Before us, Starry Isis pours forth
her alloy of clear wisdom and sweet love:
We are here to serve each other
Because we are each other.

Don’t walk away from this desolation!
Water it with your tears, and feed with blood
the seeds of every precious human thing—
And then stand back!
And let God’s luminous yellow sun
Revivify the earth.