This poem honors the first responders who helped on 9/11 in New York City. It describes the chaos and uncertainty of that day, with the towers collapsing and people fleeing danger. Amidst the debris, New York's finest police officers and firefighters charged into the fray to help people. Their bravery gave Americans a renewed sense of pride and helped the nation get through the fear and doubt of that dark time. The poem ends by saying the Statue of Liberty stood taller seeing an American flag rise from the rubble, reminding all that the country would remain united.

1. New York’s Finest
On the eleventh day of September
Who among us will not remember
The momentous crash of craft and center
That changed forever the world, we enter?
Though, we struggled to comprehend
Nothing came to us that would end
The nagging thought that lingered on,
Would our freedom see the dawn?
Then we watched as into the fray
Charged the heroes of the day.
New York’s finest would shine a light
On our freedom’s darkest blight.
Even as the towers were tumbling
And people all about were stumbling
Dodging bricks and mortar and dust
Wondering where to go and whom to trust?
There stood New York’s finest amidst the chaos and debris
Giving their all for you and me.
We watched them with newly found pride
Those who toiled and those who died.
To New York’s finest, it is abundantly clear,
You have rekindled our nation’s spirit and put aside our fear.
And so, we looked on, no longer in doubt.
From the dust and the rubble, we heard freedom’s shout.
We glanced at the Statue with a tear in her eye.
She stood a bit straighter against the sky,
As a tattered Old Glory arose from the dust.
We heard her sigh, “We are still one, and In God We Trust.”
By William Sutton
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