September 11th

“When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." John 10:32

it is the whisper of that grief
we carry which is too heavy to bear:
“Lord, if you had been here…”
whispered in the smoke and falling ashes,
carved in the bench in a backyard,
wrapped like a tefillin around our hearts
through years of war,
the reading of names
with silence after each,
the lowering of flags,
coffins and urns 

placed in sacred ground,
the lives divided into
before and after forever.
Jesus does not give a reason
or try to defend heaven’s silence
but simply draws near,
and maybe that is how
faith is rekindled—
not with answers, but
simply by the One who
steps into our weeping,
sits with us in hope’s ashes,
and will not leave us there.
one year, twenty-five, a lifetime—
we still remember,
and it may be that
God remembers as well,
not to rip off a scab,
but to keep reminding us
that sorrow does not
have that final word.

© 2026 Thom M. Shuman

Venmo: @ThomShuman