Wings of Sorrow

Lyrics

*[Intro] [distant piano] [soft] [ambient guitar]* Twenty-five years beneath the rising sun, And still September knows your names. The morning came like any other, Then nothing ever stayed the same. Coffee cooling on the tables, Goodbyes spoken at the door, No one knew those little moments Would become forevermore. *[Verse 1]* Two towers reaching toward the heavens, Silver against a cloudless blue, Thousands living ordinary lives, With ordinary things to do. Then the sky became a warning, And the streets became a prayer, While strangers carried strangers Through the smoke that filled the air. And some ran down toward safety, While the bravest climbed above, Into fire, into darkness, With nothing but their courage and their love. *[Pre-Chorus]* If heaven keeps a record Of every final breath, Then write their names in constellations Where they're brighter than their death. *[Chorus] [full band]* **We remember.** When the towers disappeared into the gray, **We remember.** Pennsylvania's field beneath that broken day. **We remember.** The Pentagon, the fire, the lives that slipped away. You were mothers, You were fathers, You were daughters, sons and friends. And though the skyline changed forever, **Your light did not end.** *[Verse 2] [stripped back]* Above a quiet Pennsylvania field, A choice was made while hope grew thin. They knew the cost of turning back, And still they said, *we're going in.* Not soldiers dressed for battle, Just souls who understood That sometimes ordinary people Must stand where heroes would. No marble walls were waiting, No medals in their hands, Only voices from their loved ones And one final, desperate stand. *[Pre-Chorus]* So let the grass grow softly Where that wounded eagle fell. There are stories in that silence That eternity will tell. *[Chorus]* **We remember.** When the towers disappeared into the gray, **We remember.** Pennsylvania's field beneath that broken day. **We remember.** The Pentagon, the fire, the lives that slipped away. You were mothers, You were fathers, You were daughters, sons and friends. And though the skyline changed forever, **Your light did not end.** *[Verse 3] [drums] [slowly building]* Along the halls of the Pentagon, Another fire scarred the stone. Desks abandoned, chairs left waiting, Families praying by the phone. Across a wounded nation Every church bell seemed to cry, While photographs upon the fences Asked the same unanswered *why?* Firefighters raised their helmets. Police stood covered in the dust. Medics worked until they trembled. And strangers learned again to trust. For one brief moment underneath A sky that turned from blue to black, We weren't divided by our differences— **We only wanted our people back.** *[Bridge] [nearly whispered]* Can you hear them In the silence before dawn? Can you feel them When September carries on? In every empty chair, Every photograph held tight, Every child who grew without them, Every candle in the night. There are names carved into stone, But they were more than names. They had dreams. They had laughter. They had someone waiting. They had plans for tomorrow That never came. *[Breakdown] [heavy guitars enter]* So ring the bells. Raise the flag. Speak every name the years have carried. Let no dust, No flame, No hatred Ever make their memory buried. **New York!** We remember. **The Pentagon!** We remember. **Shanksville!** We remember. From the first alarm To the final call— **WE REMEMBER THEM ALL.** *[Final Chorus] [massive] [choir behind] [lead vocal]* **We remember!** Every soul beneath that September sky. **We remember!** Those who ran toward hell while others ran for life. **We remember!** Those who fought aboard that plane and chose to rise. For the mothers, For the fathers, For the daughters and the sons, For the firefighters climbing When the whole world said to run. For the voices on the telephone Who whispered one last time— **"I love you."** Twenty-five years may pass us, But your light Still fills The sky. *[Outro] [piano] [choir fading]* Where towers once touched heaven, Where a scar runs through the stone, Where the wind moves through the fields And the Pennsylvania grass has grown... We will carry you. We will speak your names. We will tell the ones who follow Why September changed. And as long as morning rises Over this wounded land... You are not a moment lost to history. **You are remembered.** **Always.** *[Final] [whispered vocal]* September eleven. Never forgotten.