9/11 Tribute

Attached is a poem I wrote following that tragic day 24
years ago, along with the photo I took only 3 weeks before September 11,
2011.

Here is how the poem came about:

On Thursday, August 16, 2001, I was meeting some old friends in downtown NYC
for dinner. My friend Sal worked in Staten Island and having never been on the
Staten Island Ferry I decided to take the ferry to Staten Island to meet him,
then ride back together to Manhattan to meet the other guys. It was a beautiful
day. I had my camera to take some photos of us, but I also took a few photos of
the Twin Towers on our ride back on the ferry. At the time it was just another photo, but that
quickly changed. I have taken many photos of the Towers over the years, but
this one has a special place in my heart.......it was the last one I ever
photographed because a few weeks later they were gone.

In the weeks following 9/11, while riding the NY Waterway ferry from Weehawken to
Wall Street, where I worked at the time, a thousand thoughts ran through my
head as we passed where these buildings once stood. Every time something popped into my head, I would open my briefcase and jot it down. Those scribblings evolved into a poem, which I titled "Brothers in the Sky”.

I share this photo and poem every year on my Facebook page and our Secaucus Rotary Club's Facebook page, and I have had thehonor of reading it at the Secaucus 9/11 Memorial
ceremony, where I presented a framed copy of the photo and poem to Mayor Mike
Gonnelli, and it hangs in his office.

I dedicate the poem to those who lost their lives on that fateful day, the families living without their loved ones, and the heroes who responded to help on that day and the years since, many who also have lost their lives.

We will NEVER FORGET!

Rick Saltarelli, Secaucus Rotary Club