Ole friend we made it through scorch time
As I see ours made it out of the North Tower that fateful day
As Christmas lights three months to come
Sparkle bright crimson apples
Tis the harvest sublime, is fall's cheer, a time being the best of the year
No such holiday really claimed 'till 2001
Eleventh sun oh fervid sphere
Which warms us both the same
Summer's torcher's behind
Forward into weakened warmth shuffles time
'Love of A Lifetime' plays out of the radio into the shrubs
How sublime can Firehouse make such an endeavor
A cacophony of whims, swim in
Our plans of recapturing youth
All in September embrace - A harbinger of heaven's as well
Amongst us Christ may dwell
Ole friend, I see ours made it out of the North Tower that day
He'll pull up soon to have a harvest ale, the memories we'll tell.
*September is a month of deep contemplation for me. The month always reminds me of the song Love of A Lifetime by 80's metal band Firehouse. I also think of a gentleman in my church named Tom. Tom is the most Semitic looking gentile in my hometown. As a matter of fact he looks just like one of those Jewish bankers who was seen exiting the World Trade Center before it collapsed on September 11th, 2001. Tom reminds me of that fateful day and of the month of September in general based off of his physical appearance. I was doing yard work on Monday and my mind wondered as people's do during such a mundane activity. I extrapolated my perspective on Tom and the month of September into a scenario where I was working in my yard and Tom drove up to catch up with me. What if we had gotten into a discussion about a mutual friend who was pulling up in a second to have a beer with us in my front yard. That imaginary friend had been an actually 9/11 survivor and we were to celebrate his life in my front yard with old stories about younger days and to catch up with what we did through the heat of another Alabama summer. In actuality, Tom and I are fortunate in that we do not personally know anyone to have perished or even lived through the traumatic events of that day. September is a time of introspection much like the month preceding it is. A time to look back on what took place during the frantic pace of summer. A time when a year passes into senior status knowing it will die into a new one in December. A month of fading light and fading heat. A barely month to celebrate good drink with friends. A time to remember those lost and to celebrate those who were preserved on 9/11/2001.
Written: August 30th 2021
Published: September 3rd 2021
J.C.B.
