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Firefighters and police officers never entertained
the thought of stopping as they raced toward the tops
of the World Trade Center's towers.
Faced with overwhelming danger,
they ran up step after step,
challenging national fears and braving personal fright.
Some of the men and women in blue
carried injured victims to safety.
Others held panic at bay,
and led its victims to open space and sunlight.
The air was filled with dust and debris amid
a powerful rumble
when the towers crumbled.
In everybody's mind there was no doubt;
not everyone inside the towers had made it out.
With thousands of people trapped below the rubble,
firefighters and police officers never left Ground Zero.
They steeled their resolve
and used their hands as picks and shovels.
They threw aside brick, block, wire and steel
even as their fingers became cramped and raw,
and their backs ached in comitted pain.
During those first hours of the search,
not a dry eye could see,
and not a man nor woman complained.
Faithfully they searched for the living
but unseen by any eye,
a thought of dread remained.
That day will live in infamy,
when the United States was attacked
in an unthinkable way,
No one foresaw, predicted or knew
what terrorists were about to do.
When we remember the horrible events
of that September 11th day,
with honor we will say,
firefighters and police officers showed us
what it means to be true blue.