Haikus for September 11

(written in September 2001)

The Day It Rained

It rains, oh, it rains:
four fat drops collect the dust
of summer swirling.

Standing, I look out
in my nightie in the rain.
I stand there smiling.

They rush to take in
the crates of ripe tomatoes
before the rotting.

Behind me lie hives
and corpses of worker bees
no longer buzzing.

Ahead, discarded
tomatoes—a red carnage—in state are lying.

I do not yet know
that four bomb-planes have wrought
a death-red silence.

In Memoriam
United Nations
1945-2001