The Monday poem

The sun rose in a clear blue sky,

The day I will remember,

When terror rocked a nation,

That morning in September.

Some mindless individuals

Sent thousands to their deaths,

While we just watched in silence,

Stunned, and held our breaths.

What evil lurks inside the minds

Of those who take the lives

Of children, sons and fathers,

Husbands and their wives?

I've got to say I'm frightened

Of what I see and hear,

And prospect of reprisals,

Exacerbates the fear.

I hope that leaders keep their heads

And like us take deep breaths,

Before they vent their anger

And send others to their deaths.

Barbara Darling, Stockton.

The Day the Darkness Came

Terror rained from the early morning sky

The whole world wept and then asked why.

Many innocent lives at once fell still

And sadness did the Earth's heart fill.

Husbands, wives, daughters and sons

They never did this day return

Their partners and friends watched in pain

And sadly many were to wait in vain.

Fathers, aunts, sisters and brothers,

Uncles, cousins and broken-hearted mothers,

A multitude of deaths and many maimed,

Will the world ever be the same?

Some talk of revenge and some of restraint

Decisions to be made by hearts not faint.

We pray to God they this evil overcome

And in the end that His will be done.

Noel Fitzpatrick, Darlington.

Manhattan

The cowardly terrorists, who attacked Manhattan,

Who destroyed each massive tower,

Have yet to receive America's answer

For that one fatal hour,

New Yorkers are resilient and patient,

For that which yields, gives,

The new logo for the Empire State

Is 'Believe it, New York still lives.'

God Bless America.

G Bannister, Bishop Auckland.

Daylight fading

Resembles a life

Expiring peacefully.

The air is still;

And one sound only

Above the constant drone,

Is the beating of wings

In a wood without fame.

Until in a space

Between copse and eye,

Across land where stubble

Speaks in broad fields

About the recent harvest,

I see four dogs run by

Tongue-loose panting

And up to mischief.

Though I alter position

To look for the being

Who might be their master,

There is no one in sight.

As I hunt for a reason,

I ask what devil as man

Cried havoc and let slip

Dogs of war so callous.

For that is their guise

In saddest September.

When Mankind suffers

Lost American blood.

A fool once said

that after Auschwitz

All poetry blasphemes.

Truth after Manhattan

Will be in your Word,

With wisdom consider

How its catharsis redeems.

Colin Farrington, Great Ayton.

America - We Grieve With You

America, America, it's hard to believe it's true

All the nations of the world

are stunned and grieve with you.

Such mindless acts of slaughter

Leaving the innocent in plight.

Some folks are blaming God

But surely, that's not right!

For God Himself is angry

At the havoc reeked on His Earth

But he will punish those to blame

And give our world new birth.

No one knows the certain depth

Of God's strength and power

And money will soon pour in

To rebuild that famous tower.

Now we must pray in earnest

To rid our world of evil.

To destroy all the terrorists

who have caused this upheaval.

What has happened is tragic

But we must be contrite

To put right all the wrongs

and walk with God in the Light.

Vera Bennett, Darlington.

We'll Never Forget

These are terrible sights

Of crashed flights.

People have died

And their relatives have cried.

For three minutes the world was silenced

Because of this bitter violence.

Why has America been hit

With this monstrous blitz?

Americans are upset

And they will not rest

Until this evil is no more

For inside they are hurting and they're sore.

But America, I beg, I plead,

More deaths are not what we need.

America, I beg, I plead,

A third world war is not what we need.

Joanne Hall, aged 13, Shildon.

September 11

September the 11th, no special day of dedication

Just people working for their remuneration

Til from the sky came death and destruction

And America Wept.

From far and wide without hesitation

Came help and assistance to the devastation

But evil had not finished her obscene libation

And America Wept.

The mighty towers fell without indication

Trapping and killing without discrimination

And families quaked in sad trepidation

And America Wept.

More than five thousand lives came to their conclusion

But more many more suffered in confusion

And waited and hoped for some declaration

And still America Wept.

We all prayed, each to our own tradition

While governments talked of retribution

And came the fear of annihilation

And the World Wept.

P Aspinall, Crook.

In Remembrance

There'll be no Santa Claus this year

Only an empty space in an empty chair,

There'll be no Thanksgiving

Just remembrance of days gone by

When mothers, daughters, sisters

Graced our homes with beauteous cry.

The little girl with beloved toy

Smiles from a photograph so coy

And happy in her mother's arms

Secure and safe from life's alarms.

We of common birth and place

Of British and of Irish race

We who speak a common tongue

Know how, like us, you long

For happy days gone by.

Long live America and Britain too

We cry.

Mary Ellery, Peterlee.

New York and Others

How can we begin to understand

The hearts of humanity?

All kinds of horrors yet unfold

That we do not wish to see.

All happens in religion

Because it's easier to explain

Yet people who give it no thought

Reveal their heart and pain.

There is something more behind this

Than all the world can see

But who listens to the simple voice

Of those of you and me.

"Love is the key," Jesus did say.

"God's thoughts higher than our own."

Yet there lies hatred and bitterness

Under most regions' thrones.

Marge Mason, Newton Aycliffe.