It was a regular September day in New York of ’01.
Fall was taking over as summer’s course had run.
Two tall buildings stood silent and proud
Keeping watch over the streets filled with their usual crowd.
Who would have guessed the kings would fall?
Now ashes and dust, not brick and wall.

The clocks in the buildings chimed eight o’clock.
People rushed in; they didn’t stop to gawk.
Perhaps they would have done differently if they’d known what lay ahead.
That their workplace would soon become a graveyard, instead.
Who would have guessed the kings would fall?
Now ashes and dust, not brick and wall.

Some worked diligently. Some dreamed of bed.
But no one thought to look overhead.
Two airplanes had started their morning flight.
But they’d veered off course and were about to cause a fright.
Who would have guessed the kings would fall?
Now ashes and dust, not brick and wall.

The clocks in the buildings read 8:46.
In the blink of an eye, tragedy hit.
One plane crashed; one building was downed.
And the monsters ate a fiery path all around.
Some cried and shrieked; most were just numb.
But who would have known the worst was yet to come?
Who would have guessed the kings would fall?
Now ashes and dust, not brick and wall.

It was 9:03 when the second plane hit.
Ceilings crumbled, windows broke, and the South Tower was alit.
The offices inside were in a state of uproar and confusion.
People ran up and down staircases and prayed this was all an illusion.
Nineteen bad men had caused this sad fate.
Now two buildings and thousands of people hoped it would abate.
Who would have guessed the kings would fall?
Now ashes and dust, not brick and wall.

The hour was ten. The mood was solemn.
Sad spectators watched as the buildings crumbled, column after column.
Hundreds had already succumbed to Al Qaeda’s slow poison.
Hundreds more were about to make a difficult decision.
The drop was far. They knew they wouldn’t survive.
Their last thoughts centered on sons and daughters, husbands and wives.
Who would have guessed the kings would fall?
Now ashes and dust, not brick and wall.

Outside of the destruction, children played and laughed and sang.
They didn’t understand others’ grief when the fateful telephone rang.
Once divided, Americans now stood together as one.
With a shared cause, they united and took up their guns.
For a decade, the dead slept under two sheets of scars
An eternal reminder for passers-by in cars.
Until the day the public was ready to remember.
And a final sanctuary for the fallen was built in the tenth September.
Two buildings no more stand silent and proud.
But their bones are still there and cry a message loud.
Now we know that the kings can fall.
But ashes and dust will turn back into brick and wall.