He was Bill Weasley/Firefighters/Heroes in the air

[blpurdom at yahoo.com]

I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am for your loss, Yael.  I 
think of him, and the man Mindy said was contacting his loved ones, 
saying he wasn't going to be able to get out, and I just start crying 
all over again.  Added to all of those people are the courageous 
firefighters and police officers who are lost, and the people who 
brought down their own plane to save people on the ground...both the 
loss and the heroism are staggering.

The last two lines of this poem (which I've been unable to get out of 
my head during this entire ordeal) are carved on the Aviator's 
Memorial here in Philadelphia.  Spender's words have a music that 
notes do not, and I think it can apply to truly great people whether 
they had anything to do with flight or not.  Because I have been 
thinking about this and it has been helping me a little bit, I wanted 
to share it.

--Barb

___________________________________________

I Think Continually of Those Who Were Truly Great

by Stephen Spender

I think continually of those who were truly great
Who, from the womb, remembered the soul's history
Through corridors of light where the hours are suns
Endless and singing.  Whose lovely ambition
Was that their lips, still touched with fire,
Should tell of the Spirit clothed from head to foot in song.
And who hoarded from the Spring branches
The desires falling across their bodies like blossoms.

What is precious is never to forget
The essential delight of the blood drawn from ageless springs
Breaking through rocks in worlds before our earth.
Never to deny its pleasure in the morning simple light
Nor its grave evening demand for love.
Never to allow gradually the traffic to smother
With noise and fog the flowering of the spirit.

Near the snow, near the sun, in the highest fields
See how these names are feted by the waving grass
And by the streamers of white cloud
And whispers of wind in the listening sky.
The names of those who in their lives fought for life
Who wore at their hearts the fire's center.
Born of the sun they traveled a short while towards the sun,
And left the vivid air signed with their honor.