Today is September twelfth
so now we can forget
for the next 364 days

Apparently
we are content
to remember only yesterday

Read the names
Toll the bells
Dig the pictures out of the archives
Promise terrible revenge next time

Then midnight arrives
and we tun back
back into plump pumpkins
with no memory
growing complacent
in our garden of goodies

What if every day
we remembered

Remembered
the causes
Remembered
how easily we were led into two wars
Remembered
that no Iraqis, no Afghans hijacked those planes
Remembered
that there were no weapons of mass destruction
Remembered
the names, the stories, the loves
of the men and women who died
in those wars
Remembered
the names of the children
missing a parent
because of those wars
Remembered
the ones struggling
with their unwelcome mementos
of those wars

Remembered to pray
for peace
for wisdom
for remembering every day