I still remember
Getting up too early
With a late summer cold
On a September Tuesday
Where the sky was so blue
You could see forever.
I still remember
An early morning bike ride
Pledges on a seesaw
Under the blue arch
Who worried when they didn’t see me
Since I’d wiped out on the gravel under the trees.
I remember coming back
Taking a shower
Roommate gone by the time I was done
Sitting down at my computer
Someone telling me in chat to turn on the TV
And so I did.
I remember calling friends
Two calls
Telling them to turn on their TVs too
And being on with one
When the second plane hit.
I still remember
Calling the department office
To ask if we still had class that morning
And my professor asking why we wouldn’t
And being the one to tell him
That two planes had just hit the World Trade Center.
I remember coming back
After five minutes of class
And half an hour at the dining commons
Calling my mom to find out where Dad was
And being relived that I had my directions confused.
I remember sitting on Nick’s floor
And picking teams for the end of the world
And watching all of it come down.
I remember how wrong it all felt
And how we knew everything had changed
And how somehow a whole generation
Had suddenly had their tomorrow be different from what they’d planned.
I remember thinking
That it was the end of one thing
And the beginning of another
And knowing that no matter what happened next
Nothing would ever be right again.
