The Names on the Marble

As I look out and see 

All that is in front of me, 

I think in my head, 

‘ how many are there here, dead?’

I know the number, 

But that does not matter. 
What I was not yet born to remember 

Is how many lives were shattered.
 

as I gaze into the reflecting pool, 

My eyes fill with hot tears. 

Nothing about what happened here could ever be considered cool. 
‘ what has it been now, exactly 20-two years?’

I trace

With my fingers

The names

And the letters

As I fully begin to comprehend

How many people are dead

In this place

Of so much pain

And suffering

But also

A place

Of heroism

And unity.

There is not enough room to display 

The stories of all the souls laid to rest, 

But instead,

Just one name, 

Yet this is the best 

We can know 

Of the grief Their families new so.

We honor them

In our thoughts.
We remember them

In our prayers,

And as I still think about them,

Now and forever more,

There will be tears.

As my face grows wet,

I bet

Tender smiles crease their lips in heaven.

In the museum- 

A stark, beautiful place- 

We learn more about them,

Those whose bodies numbered so few,

Barely even enough to put in a mausoleum.

there are positives that come out of every tragedy, 

Pieces of triumph in every travesty, 

Trials and tribulations in life, but not in death, 

Struggles and strife on earth, but not in heaven. 

I take a glimpse- 

Deeper than mostt- 

Into those 

Whom I never got to know. 
My great uncle, 

He could have been one of them. 
My uncle, 

He knew many of them.
 

 I do not think about those, 

Who did the damage. 
I can not think about those, 

Who left so many families ravaged 

With grief 

And pain, 

With disbelief 

And no gain.

 I can not understand 

How people can be so evil. 
I do not understand 

How they can be like the devil. 
I can not know 

How their minds thought. 
I do not want to know 

The extent of the damage they brought.

I am upset about the theorists,

Who insult the memory of the lost.
I am upset about the scientists,

Who doubt what happened with  laws.

I think it should be remembered,

Not forgotten.
It must never be unremembered,

And never forgotten.