Tis in moments like this
In the quiet and dark of night
When the demons on fiery wings
Arise up and take to flight

Tis at this dreaded hour
When I hear them screaming
When I see the towers quake
And I wish that I were dreaming

For it happened in the daylight
When we were unaware
They attacked us with a vengeance
And malice in their glare

It was our innocent lives
That were targets for their act
And our own places of work
As it made a greater impact

But it is to those who perished
In this awful destructive fall
And to those who faced the danger
When they heard the siren call

It is for those unsung heroes
Who in the fateful hours
Acted with little self-regard
To save those in the towers

This is for those who in the flames
Burning in the land of the free
Faced their death with honor
Those brave three forty three

For they heard the alarm ring out
And knew they must respond
To brave the hazards save a life
Into the fire and beyond

They responded from every station
From every borough around
Heard the whining of the sirens
As they roared through town

But never in their professional lives
Nor the wise memory of age
Had they met a challenge so dire
As now that burned with rage

They marshalled all their courage
Readied themselves to fight
Faced the menace with conviction
Then climbed up to the heights

They encouraged all to be careful
Be cautious but never run
Go down to where it is safer
To the light of the healing sun

And still they struggled upward
With a hundred pounds of gear
Strapped to their straining backs
But ever they saw the fear

In the eyes of those descending
And the screams from up above
Chilled the hearts of every man
In that courageous group of

Firefighters. But still they fought
And still they struggled on
Still they faced this terrible foe
With their grit muscle and brawn

And while they fought the flames
And dodged the falling debris
They helped those less able
Who were blind and could not see
 
They tried to save all they could
While fighting the fires of hell
And didn’t know what hit them
When both the towers fell

A sound as terrible as thunder
Roared across the world o’er
The dust and the debris bellowed
Covering from shore to shore

The dust was a mix of mortar
Of glass and steel and foam
But also there within it
Was of blood and flesh and bone

Close to three thousand lives
Fathers, mothers, sisters, sons
Friends, family, husbands, wives
All cherished all loved ones

But of those who didn’t make it
Who struggled to win free
Were those brave daring fighters
Those three forty thee

So in this dark and oppressive hour
And with shaking quaking hand
I raise a glass and toast their honor
For because of them I can