Welcome to Poetically Yours. Poetically Yours showcases poems by northern Illinois poets. This week we feature our oldest contributor, 102-year-old Jean Schildbach.
Schildbach is from Elmhurst, Illinois. She writes poetry every day and says most of her thoughts come to her in the middle of the night.
Schildbach enjoys going to church, singing with her oldest daughter and dolling herself up.
Schildbach’s poems cover a variety of topics. Today’s poem is about 9/11. Schildbach watched the attacks on television but then later that day another tragedy took place.
That fateful morn’ in September, started out like all the rest
Linda and I were going to paint flowers on her bedroom chest
But instead, we sat in awe and dismay, glued to the TV set
And watched as the towers burned and collapsed
My God, I can see them yet
Feverishly police and firemen worked mid rubble and smoking debris
Never knowing how many lives they could save
or be able to help to set free
Then late in the day our Kathy called to say she was hospital bound.
Rick had been in an accident. And could we meet her to see what they found
That fateful Eve in September had an equally tragic end
For that night we lost our precious son
He’s in your hands,
Your loving hands, now my friend.
- Yvonne Boose is a current corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.
