If Only They Had Wings

I wrote this poem a few days after September 11th, 2001, after my mom told me something one of her second grade students had said about the attack on the Twin Towers. As my mom was explaining the tragic event to her kids, one student raised his hand and asked of the people in the buildings, “Why couldn’t they have wings so they could fly to the ground?”

If only they had wings

So they could fly to the ground.

If only they had known,

The terror that began with that sound.

If only they had wings,

So they could return home that night.

If only we were more aware,

Of the tragedy aboard that flight.

If only they had wings,

So they could have survived it all.

If only they were still beside us,

Instead of taking that dreadful fall.

If only they had wings,

Before the disaster sang its eerie song.

But if they didn’t have them then,

They have them now, where they belong.