Remembering 9/11

Image by Pat Bianculli from Flickr

Although National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman wrote her poem, "The Hill We Climb" for a different occasion - a presidential inauguration at the onset of a pandemic -- her words tried to make sense of an attack at the nation's seat of democracy. 

As the twentieth anniversary of 9/11 draws to a close, I find the words of Ms. Gorman's unforgettable poem somehow also seem to match the feelings of this day -- solemnity of remembrance, yet with an ever-present sense of hope for rebuilding and moving forward, even after a previously unimagined national trauma.

Excerpts from The Hill We Climb, by Amanda Gorman

When day comes we ask ourselves,
‘where can we find light in this never-ending shade,’
the loss we carry,
a sea we must wade?
We’ve braved the belly of the beast.
We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace,
and the norms and notions
of what just is
isn’t always just-ice.
And yet the dawn is ours
before we knew it,
somehow we do it.
Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed
a nation that isn’t broken
but simply unfinished.

. . . 

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:
That even as we grieved, we grew;
that even as we hurt, we hoped;
that even as we tired, we tried;
that we’ll forever be tied together, victorious,
not because we will never again know defeat
but because we will never again sow division.

. . .

We did not feel prepared to be the heirs
of such a terrifying hour
but within it we found the power
to author a new chapter,
to offer hope and laughter to ourselves.
So while once we asked,
‘how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe,’
now we assert,
‘how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?’
We will not march back to what was
but move to what shall be:
a country that is bruised but whole,
benevolent but bold,
fierce, and free.
We will not be turned around
or interrupted by intimidation
because we know our inaction and inertia
will be the inheritance of the next generation.
Our blunders become their burdens.
But one thing is certain:
If we merge mercy with might,
and might with right,
then love becomes our legacy
and change our children’s birthright.

. . . 

We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover
in every known nook of our nation and
every corner called our country,
our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,
battered and beautiful.
When day comes we step out of the shade,
aflame and unafraid.
The new dawn blooms as we free it.
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it,
if only we’re brave enough to be it.

Excerpted from "The Hill We Climb" by Amanda Gorman.  The full poem may be found here.

May they never be forgotten, and may we always be brave enough to see the light.