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Climb · Backward Mutters Poetry Podcast

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: You are listening to the Backward Mutters poetry podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Please visit online at backwardmutters.substack.com.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: There you can subscribe via your favorite podcast player and read the newsletter.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Randy Edwards.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Today's poem is a tribute to the victims,
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: rescuers, and survivors of the 9-11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it was written and delivered at
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: the 25th Anniversary Memorial Service honoring those victims held at
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: the Public Safety Memorial Park in my hometown of Kernersville, North Carolina.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: In the poem, I mention two individuals whose actions have been remembered.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: In not mentioning other heroes who gave their lives at the World Trade Center,
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: the Pentagon attack,
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: or the crash of Flight 93 near Shanksville,
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Pennsylvania, I do not want to diminish the many heroic acts which took place.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: One cannot say enough about the first responders,
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: volunteers,
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: military personnel, and citizens who performed heroically and sacrificially.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: I have not been able to say all that needs saying,
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: but I hope this serves as a start to what needs to be said.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: The poem is titled, Climb.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Climb.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Just how many steps are enough to climb in honor of the memory of those who died?
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: At 25 years, has it been enough time for those who ran too, fought back, gave lives?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: It has not.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: It is not too much for us to remember the victims and heroes of the 11th of September.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: We gather here on this morn of September to honor the day as the sun climbs,
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: recall where we were Doing what we remember when we heard the news about all those
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: who died.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Watched desperate rescuers work to save lives when all we'd known became another time.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: When Flight 11 struck, did we know at that time all we would lose, that severe September?
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Did we count our loved ones, the gift of their lives?
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Did we, when heading out our door, climbing into that day, think this might be the day we died?
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Tell them we loved them.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: Not forget, but remember.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: When leaving his home,
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: did Wells Crowther remember to bring that bandana, not forget it this time?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Those he helped save,
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: though he himself died,
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: will never forget the man that September who in a bandana led them out,
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: then climbed back up the stairs to help save other lives.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Rick Rascorla had lived many lives,
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: fought foreign wars he still remembered, sang,
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Men of Cornwall Steady,
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: as he climbed,
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: leading others out on his cell for his last time with his wife,
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: the bride of his September, saying, You made my life just before it died.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: On that day, 2,977 people died.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: We stand by this oak to honor their lives.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Those who made a choice before that September to serve,
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: their duty of love to others remember,
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: who saw the moment,
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: knew this was the time to do the hard thing, lay down their life and climb.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: For the thousands who died, we remember.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: As each toll rings lives, tolls for us it is time.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Honor them this September.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Choose the others and climb.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: You've been listening to the Backward Mutters Poetry Podcast.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Randy Edwards.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.