And a Decade is Gone. . .

Silence (over Manhattan)

Paula Bardell

A black September shadow cloaks the dawn,

The City’s once white teeth now rotting stumps,

Midst choking dusty embers ether-borne,
Its shrunken soundless heart now barely pumps.
Infernos upon retribution rise,
Fanaticism maddening the flames,
Its once imposing deities abscise,
As the faceless antagonist proclaims:
A consummation sweet but unfulfilled,
A penetrative burst without regret,
A zealous passion never to be stilled,
An earthly instinct powerful, and yet -
This bitter loathing blowing from the East,
Curtailed but could not kill the feisty beast.

 Psalm 23:4

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death 

I will fear no evil: 

For You are with me;