Rainbow Flowers

For the 25th Anniversary of 9/11

Out of grey comes yellow, out of smoke comes blossoms,

halo’d by the afternoon Manhattan sun.

Look at the stems we place in the letters engraved

as roses and sunflowers and marigolds point sunward.

Each working day I would pass the white roses of birthdays

arriving without an honoree present to give hugs or light candles.

But on this day, they are celebrated with rainbows of flowers

connecting the names, collected together as they knew one another

the day they fell. Now, memorial water runs in their wake,

showering peace and memory over us who stand silently,

remembering. Where I was that day, I will always know.

A new generation is too young to know, to remember,

but they are welcome here amongst the granite, bronze and concrete.

The Survivor Tree takes us all under her limbs, just as

the city picked her up from under the rubble twenty-five years ago.

Leave a message on one of her colorful tags,

and glance up at the sky we share.