it was written by my husband just shortly after the 9/11 attacks as we waited to hear what was happening around the world & him.
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The Twins
The lady knelt among her slain children, a flickering torch at her side. Its light was dim and a gloom covered the area outside its light. The blood of her children stained her robes, though she could barely tell through her tears.
She could hear the rest of her children. They sounded angry, scared, confused.
As she cried a shadow fell across her.
"Sister," she heard, "please, stand up. They need you. We all do."
The lady raised her tear-streaked eyes to behold her twin.
"Sister," the twin said, "this can not go on."
"But, my children," the lady cried. "How could this happen?"
"Those that do not understand us, they seek to destroy us. We must end this."
"How?"
"You know how, sister."
The lady looked at what her sister was carrying.
"Must it be this way?"
The twin raised her sword. "Without this, I can not protect them."
"Is there no other way? Maybe I can shed my light out there."
"Sister, those that did this, they hate us. They hate our children. They will not listen. Our children have tried. Our children have offered their hands in friendship and help but look at how they were repaid."
The lady looked around. She could see that her children were in pain. The loss of their brothers and sisters was weighing down their souls. They flinched in the gloom but, as she could see, they still struggled against it. Alone, and together, they still went on, believing in her, believing in her sister as well.
She looked up at her sister again. Her twin still held the sword but her other hand was empty. It was stretched out to help the lady up.
The lady took her sister’s hand and rose to her feet.
"What will you do?" she asked.
"Be there with them. Be among them to help them do what must be done but also to do what is right. What about you sister?"
"I will do what I have done since I came to this land. What I have always done for our children. I just wish it didn’t have to be this way."
"So do I, so do they. But, remember this, if we fail them, we might lose them and they might lose us. I won’t permit that. I love them too much and they feel the same towards us."
The lady nodded. "Again, you are right sister." With that the lady reached down to picked up the torch. As she raised it, it flared to life, chasing the darkness from her land. The light shone out across the seas and touched lands so far away; none of the children could see them. The sisters could though.
"Here, keep this," her twin said, handing her a piece of cloth. "I will need to see to show them right from wrong."
The lady looked at the children. "Who will go?"
"We will," some said, their eyes filled with tears and resolve.
"We will stay and protect those still here," others said, moving out amongst their siblings.
"We will stay and continue, to give purpose to those going," even more said.
The lady looked at her twin, "Thank you for bringing me back out of my despair. I love you, Justice."
The twin looked back. "That’s what this is all about, Liberty."
By Daniel Ivey