Wings Above St. Stephen's

Wings Above St. Stephen’s

 

-Blessed Are Those Who Mourn-

 

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Remembering a Young Woman

Who Died on September 11, 2001

 

At the World Trade Center

In Manhattan, New York City,

The Sullenness of Her Mourners,

And the Flight of a Red-Tailed Hawk

 

That you appear at this most dismal hour,

In which the benediction has been done,

When all are wearied by the service long,

And that last hymn in sadness has begun,

 

Suggests that you would exercise a right

To soar in rapture with the mind on high

That lowers every head in solemn pause

But demonstrates life’s glory in the sky

 

That you imbue a bleak and empty place

In which all wings defer unto your flight,

When we are bent in sorrow and in tears;

And, in one bare expression, suffer light,

 

Attests that you have risen on a chance

To symbolize that sovereignty and will

Within all bold, sublime, and holy acts

That have a cause of heaven to fulfill.