THREE THOUSAND

Three Thousand

By Steven Bates 1 Sept 2023

September 11th, Two Thousand and One

My day as a missile cop had barely begun

The TV was on for background content

When it flashed on the news where the first plane had went

Then plane number two, and plane number three

Plane number four met their destiny

I'll never forget that day in the field

watching in horror as three thousand were killed

War had prepared me for Battlefield loss

The nature of which hangs like some albatross

Round the neck of a veteran, it's his cross to bear

His burden alone, a pain not to share

But when three thousand die in the name of revenge

It just makes one angry, it just makes one cringe

It makes me remember that freedom's a thing

That no other country to the table can bring

And I remember the flags out the very next day

Our Patriot feeling they didn't take 'way

It surged in our hearts, it burned in our souls

It ached for each one of the three thousand holes

The graves that were dug in the following year

Had every American shedding a tear

The death toll was brutal, the losses were tragic

But revitalized our spirit like some kind of magic

We stood as Americans against all who oppose

And when the flag flew high we all stood and rose

For after three thousand losses, we just couldn't see

Insulting America by taking a knee

Or burning the symbol of a Nation in mourning

At the loss of three thousand that one Tuesday morning

It seems we've forgotten the loss that we felt

When September 11th hit us low of the belt

But for two thousand nine hundred seventy-seven

I'll never forget when they went to Heaven

Add nineteen terrorists, yes, they died as well

But my heart believes that went to Hell

But nevertheless, three thousand are dead

In an image I'll never get out of my head

Too many have forgotten the lives that were lost

Too many have forgotten what freedom can cost

So this Patriot's Day, I'll stand, never kneel

each moment of silence in my heart I will feel

I'll remember the towers, great icons of steel

And remember three thousand that cowards did kill