by Todd R. Jerabek

An ode to twenty-oh-one,
What is the song to be sung?
A year to remember?
The eleventh of September?
bin Laden was thinking he'd won.

A dog is now nipping his heels,
Scared and frightened he feels,
In twenty-oh-two,
His running is through,
Caught by our own Navy S.E.A.L.S?

So is this a prophetic rhyme?
Or is it only a matter of time?
Before justice is done,
And he no longer runs,
Instead, sees the fate of his crime?

To justice I lift up my glass,
That the memories may never pass,
But always remember,
That day in September,
When innocence shattered like glass.

We conquer and we overcome,
Americans? Proud to be one!
Never are daunted,
Proud, but not vaunted,
We bid, "Good-bye, twenty-oh-one."

So ring out the end of this year,
Be somber, yet ring it with cheer,
A briar, slowly puffed,
A porter raised up,
Boldly ride into another new year.