Nine Years Ago

As a child of twelve, she gazes at the television screen.
Her mind spins and buckles.
She knows not what this day will mean
On the pages of history.

The horrific images dance in her coffee colored eyes
Forever burned into her memory.
Resounding thuds of bodies hitting the ground, shatter the vacuum of sound
And in an instant, that girl is no longer naïve to the terrors of the world.

That was nine years ago to this day.
Now that girl is grown and strong,
Battling the enemy,
Keeping evil at bay. 

Sometimes, while cleaning her weapon of choice,
She wonders what she's doing in that lonely, barren place.
Away from her mother, father, sisters and brothers, yearning to hear a friendly voice.
Gunfire echoes in the distance, flares light up the pitch black desert night.

Then she flashes back to that sunny September morning,
When she was a child, innocent and young.
When the line between generations was drawn.
The day that stood still in time. 

And then, she remembers just why she went away,
What she is fighting for,
The reason why she defends her flag each day
Along with the other soldiers of the USA.

She fights for that man jumping from the ninetieth floor,
For the woman kneeling in the ashes.
For newscaster whose hands trembled, shaken to the core.
For the heroes on flight 93, for the children who will never be.

For every soldier who marched off to war
For those who don't even believe in what she's fighting for.
For the protesters out on Pennsylvania street,
For every American she will never meet.

Each day she stands up proud,
Shoulders her gun,
Holds her ground.
Never one second, one moment of doubt.

For freedom she fights. For freedom, she gives all. 


*This poem is not about anyone in particular but could be about any young soldiers today who remember 9/11 through a child's eyes.