The Twins

View of Lower Manhattan with Twin Towers, Date Unknown _{(Credit: Unknown)}

Originally written September 13th, 2020. Inspired by “Windows” by Clinton Affair.

Crueler hearts stole you from us,
One sunny Tuesday in September
Over two decades ago.
My first trip to your hometown was after you were gone,
The gaping wounds where you stood still smoldering.
I’m awfully fond of you both.

You still stand in old movies and photographs,
Immortalized in the hazy dreamlike past,
The kind I’ve reconstructed secondhand,
Filling me with nostalgia for a world where you’re still here,
And the innocence that was taken from me
At the moment you were taken from us.

It breaks my heart that I’ll never see you at night,
Heartbeat shining through clear walls,
New constellations on your face each night,
Your edges and lines dominating the view,
Beacons of hope, stars to guide those who are lost.

You held Windows on the World to the greatest city in it,
Shining towers that defined the skyline for decades,
Silver blades held aloft against blue skies,
Glistening with asymmetrical golden blocks of light within,
Taking on the colors of the world around you,
The oranges and reds and purples and golds 
Now replaced by green or grey or blue hues of photographs,
Idle memories confined to imperfect film,
Life support for our recollections of you.

You represent a world that died alongside you,
A beating heart wounded and ripped apart,
A world where we lived the lie of peace.
You are the symbol of the analogue world, 
One of boxy televisions and printed words,
A window to a time none of us can ever get back to.
Your afterimages a reminder of the beauty within something ordinary.

It breaks my heart your abnormal marks are removed from the canvas,
And all the people that went with you are no longer here either to marvel at your beauty.