Empty Shoes

Looking down from
Freedom Tower
I see emptiness.

In the footsteps where
buildings once stood.
The graves of where
the dead mixed in
with concrete and sand.

Workers inhaled them.
While putting out the fire,
cleaning up wreckage
no park can ever replace.

I see a country trying
to make meaning
of that calm day
that changed history.

Changed the world.
I still have a
hole inside
that I hide
from everyone.

I thought I’d get revenge.
I joined the Army
to feel again.

We have all lost so much time.
Looking down
at the shadows.
Trying to fill the shoes
of our fathers.