...it being 9/11, I should try to post something thoughtful, insightful and, if possible, uplifting to commemorate the 5th anniversary of this sad date in our history. But, first I thought I should check Danielle's blog and make sure I was not imitating something she had already done.
And lo and behold - there was the perfect answer to my deliema - Daniel John Bean Jr. What better way to remember 9/11 than by celebrating a new life so freshly arrived in the world.
Congratulations Danielle and family. Welcome Dan jr!
Monday, September 11, 2006
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Celebrating the eleventh day of the ninth month in New York. Genie and I spend each anniversary in the same way. I wrote a song, which brought me very close to one firehouse, closer than I was to all firehouses. The song, Engine 33, was about the loss of a quarter of our local firehouse. I got to know them, a few days after the fall of the Trade Center. I knew they had lost their engine and their ladder truck, and I imagined that when they were not digging at the pile, they were sitting in an empty room ... and in fact they were.
I went over with a fiddler, and my Uilleann Pipes that night. They were sitting on fold up chairs just staring. We played for them, happy Irish dance tunes. Afterwards, their chief took me aside and said, "Thanks my boys needed that. I looked over the gray ash covered bunker gear, and a song began to form itself. I wanted to write about the men, just those firefighters you don't hear about. So, that night I began to write the song, and two days later recorded it.
A fire house is an amazing place. They don't talk politics at the table, but are very respectful of each others politics and beliefs. I can to find that Firefighters are not cut out a single mold, but pull together as sisters and brothers in saving life.
So, each year, Genie and I go and say thanks, at Engine 33 Ladder 9, on Great Jones Street. We stand in silence with them at the moment each plane hit, and the moment each building fell. There is no talk of war and peace, nothing but sad memories of those who gave their life for all of us, and joyous talk of memories and life since.
Dear Friends, if you are looking for a good way to spend that day, ( and something to do often) go to a firehouse, and say thank you. Their job is one of the few sane things on earth. Much of what we humans do, is frankly not sane. We do the same thing, expecting different results, this will be the war that brings peace, this is the thought that saves the world, the explanation of the unknowable ... the politic of ... no. There is a fire, and rather than fire bombing the one who caused it, they pour water on the fire, and carry people to safety. They are the most sane people on this planet. And so, I thank them. We eat together, laugh and sometimes wipe away a tear. This week, thank a fire fighter, if you really feel you need to do something... They will be there when needed, with no expectation of thanks. They're the best I know.
Engine 33… (Tune Bold Robert Emmett)
Lorcan Otway
Flashing lights and no sirens, all emergencies over
The motorcade passes, with the heroes who fell
And all on the streets stop, and in silence bear witness
Such sorrow and thanks, no mere words can tell
Who ever can forget the gray ash covered engines
coming back from the alarm like no other before
Such pain for survivors, to embrace all the families
Of comrades so loved, now on that distant shore
Chief Downey, Father Mike, First Deputy Feehan
Peter Ganci and many too many to tell
Your memories we’ll honor we n'er will forget you
You brought hope to the horror when the two towers fell.
Remember Tim Stackpole, how he prayed in the wreckage
In that terrible fire that took two of his friends
So horribly injured he fought to recover
To return to his ladder and to die with his men
So now to acknowledge, just one of the many
Engine 33 ladder company 9
There’s 10 empty places around their table
10 fallen brothers who fell on the line
Remember Kevin Pfiefer, Mike Boyle and Keith Maynard
Jeff Walz, Brian Bilcher, Robert King Dave Arce
Gerarde Baptiste, Robert Evans, John Tierney,
10 lost out of 40 from one company
And though we mourn them, they’re still on the job now
Though they have fallen, they’re still standing tall
Their spirit will bolster their sisters and brothers
Their unseen presence will answer each call
So tell all your children to tell all their children
never pass a firehouse without a brief pause
And thank all the heroes who work on those engines
Each day they risk all in humanity’s cause
Bad phrasing, I mean, I was brought closer to all fire houses, more than I was, but closer still to one in particular. I every place I go, I can't pass a firehouse, without a small prayer of thanks, and often a handshake and thanks to the firefighters within....
Forgive the small correction in my origional post...
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