The following poem was originally submitted by Syosset resident L L Manning on Sept. 28, 2001.
Victorious
Mere words cannot express the horror
The unsuspecting terror
The total devastation
With its significant heartbreak
As we ache together as a nation, as a people
Our hearts are heavy
Our breathing labored
We will become strong again somehow
To struggle through
The agony and the reality
The shock and tremendous trauma
The unspeakable and unforgiving
As we lean on each other
We will take pride
To carry on together
Our backs bending to hold this
heavy load
But they will not break us
They will not burden us
They will not strike fear in us
They will not terrorize us anymore
We will raise our heads
We will lift our hearts
We will reach out our hands
And we will extend ourselves
Together and to each other
To raise our spirit
To absolutely overcome
To become whole again
To grieve and to continue on
As they would want us to
We shared their precious lives
And we will miss them tremendously
To go on without them
Will be very hard
But to thank and praise them for their heroism
They ARE our heroes
To the efforts and relief rescues
Their task was not an easy one
Their lives changed forever
The horrid sights they encountered
Trying to make sense of no sense
As we try to move onward and upward
Proud of our nation
Our land of America
All the civilized worlds stand together
Never to forget
Never to want to
The camaraderie and brotherhood
to find a solution
To deal with it full steam ahead
And to find a means
We will prevail for the loved ones
who perished
And for those they left behind
Never to surrender
Never to crumble
For the now and present
And what’s to become
We hold the future
As we understand it to be
As we know it to be
As we try to comprehend daily
We cherish the continued valiant
and heroic efforts
We continue to stand tall
Like a family through thick and thin
We UNITE
We do what we must
We do what we have to
Not an easy task
But we will survive
Our glorious flag remains our
steadfast symbol
We struggle together
As a nation to emerge
VICTORIOUS
—L L Manning-Koziatek 9/11/01
