(In memory of an unknown couple who died on 9/11 recalled on the 25th anniversary of that date.)
Since they vowed to live together, to choose
to die together was without question, though
the searing flames and acrid smoke on floor
106 of the North Tower hastened the latter –
So, taking her hand firmly, he steered her
to the open window, where they slipped from
the outside ledge, high above the chaos
of the stricken city trembling under siege –
Not the grotesque pink haze of their impact,
not their obliteration by the crashing
tower, nor the razing of their identities
among three thousand in the rising
dust storm, but that ten second plummet
as they swivelled down in an unbroken handclasp,
two lovers immortalised by phone and camera,
falling as one, will be forever their requiem.
Dr Declan Collinge is a bilingual poet and author with eight poetry collections published. He is a former teacher and literature lecturer and regularly writes articles for the Tuarascáil section of The Irish Times.