4 November 2017

They were, in a way, rowers,
the five Argentines, the two Americans,
the one Belgique,
their legs, oars, their bikes, sculls,
they pedaled along the asphalt river,
when a wave
of terrorism smashed into them,
flattening them against
the ungiving river,
eight killed outright,
their “sculls” mangled,
twisted in death,
and in the blood-stained
shadow of the World Trade Tower.
Now, in Memory’s
river, we row
with them.

Philip Kuepper
(2 November 2017)