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 Like, I suppose, many people I wrote a number of poems about the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, 9/11/2001. This first one, I Will Fly Free, won Editor's Choice Award in a poetry contest the following year. The night I wrote this, two months after the attacks, was also the first time I was able to cry.
The second is my tribute to the troops, to firefighters, and to the police force.
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I Will Fly Free
I will fly free,
you will not prevail,
I am a child of patriots, of heroes, of pioneers.
I will fly free,
fear will not chain me down.
I will live, I will laugh, I will love.
I will sing for my country, I will weep for our dead,
and I will fly free.
On that terrible day, you awakened a sleeping demon within me,
you taught me I could kill.
But I will fight you on my terms, with my weapons.
I will fly free,
I am a child of patriots, of heroes, of pioneers.
I can do no less.
Debra Lynn Taylor
November 11, 2001
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American Hero
Firefighter, police officer, members of all Services,
Heroes forever, forgotten for a time.
But only by some.
There are those who never forget,
who remember the sacrifices,
who see your blood, your tears, your heartbreak,
and who weep for you.
So rest easy, American hero,
this burden you will never carry alone.
For even after the lights and the banners,
the cheers and the adulation fades away.
Those of us who have always been here. . .
Will remain.
Debra Lynn Taylor
August 2002
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