Peggy Noonan: The Fall After Sept. 11

Opinion Journal ^ | 08/30/2002 | Peggy Noonan

[JulieRNR21]

Thanks for posting all the lyrics....I didn't remember them all.

Is this the line you were thinking about?

The fire of September that made you mellow
...our hearts should remember, and follow

We will always remember 9/11!

[JimFreedom]

Ah LENTOS thin crust Pizza. Although I am a GINO'S fan. All my family still in NYC are in Staten Island these days although I did have a small reunion with some Fort Hamilton alumni on Long Island a week ago. We graduated in 1966! Yikes!

We may be going to the 18th Avenue feast on Sunday.

[blackie]

Peggy Noonan Rules !!

Freedom Is Worth Fighting For !!

Molon Labe !!

FMCDH !!

[Amelia]

Peggy Noonan makes one feel that they are sitting with her over a cup of coffee.

Doesn't she though! I almost always feel better after reading something she's written!

[Remole]

That experience of Jose, that his deceased co-worker appeared to him in a dream, is something that I have heard from many, many people. Not in relation to 9/11, but in relation to the death of a loved one. It seems that the Almighty gives each newcomer to Heaven one chance to comfort someone grieving.

[Flashlight]

Is this the line you were thinking about? ...

The fire of September that made you mellow ...our hearts should remember, and follow

Oh, yeah. I was reading the lyrics, thinking about the "one year after 9/11" theme in the spirit of Noonan's "lost innocence" quote, and got chills when I read the last couple of lines.

What makes it more affecting is that "The Fantasticks" (to me, anyway) is so associated with New York City. The "World's Longest Running Musical" opened in 1960 (at The Sullivan Street Playhouse, New York City) and just closed this January, 2002.

[ladyinred]

I could read Peggy all day. She is a word artist, painting pictures with words. This one is bitter sweet, but I hope for New York that they can have autumn this year.

[eddie willers]

What a writer she is.

What happened to them? They were exploded into air. They became a cloud. We breathed them in.

We breathed them in....
and that's why it is impossible to forget.
They are now within us all.

[ladyinred]

We breathed them in.... and that's why it is impossible to forget. They are now within us all.

What an incredible thought that is.
Just chilling.

[foreshadowed at waco]

And on September 11 the sky was crystal clear, and it seemed to remain that way for another 6 weeks here, well past the normal start of winter

September 11th started out that way but by 11 A.M. there was an incredibly big dark cloud that hung over Manhattan for weeks and the air was filled with ashes--it was like a nightmare. One of my students in Brooklyn saw the ashes falling outside the window of our classroom and asked if it was snowing. I will never forget--that day is with me every day--it recedes and comes back in waves--my heart broke in half.

[tet68]

Noonan Bump.